A Dream Strewn Over a Thousand Stars
by SoulVenture91
Summary: When a yearly stop near the Devil's Triangle reveals something unleashed, pirate captain Maria Salazar will face the dark heritage left in her father's wake - and try to save his soul from the darkness consuming him. [DMTNT, Salazar redemption fic, cross-posted to Tumblr]
1. 1: A Little Ship

**_1751 - Somewhere in the Caribbean Sea…_**

The hull of the _Falcon_ creaked as her captain leaned over a desk, dark amber eyes fixed to the map nailed to the side. This map roughly detailed the very tip of Florida and stretched down a swath of the Caribbean; the eyes studying it narrowed as they scanned up to a triangular area that the captain had circled, numerous times. Routes dotted the map, some labeled _British fleet, Spanish fleet, merchant_ , but the circled area was well away from those routes. Others ventured close, marked with dates in a nearly-annual progression.

" _Capitán_ Maria! We approach!"

Maria pulled herself away from the map, shaking off her reveries as she tousled her thick curled hair. Much of it was braided over her shoulders, with beads and silver threaded onto the strands to jangle softly as she moved. She snapped at the collar of her cream justacorps - the jacket hung comfortably to her knees, left open though the double-breasted collar sometimes threatened to fall free - before opening the door of her cabin out into the blazing late morning sun. Her crew was about their usual duties, though they paused to greet her with nods or a quick _ma'am_ or _senorita capitan_ as she crossed to the stairs leading to the helm. Rafael stood there, black hair falling straight around his jaw, and his black eyes darted to her before he nodded in greeting. With him was Maria's first mate, Luciano, smirking at her in greeting though some of it was due to a scar pulling up a corner of his mouth.

"We're nearly to our destination, _captaine_ ," Luciano reported, his smooth Jamaican accent a welcome contrast to the rasp of the ocean on the hull. "Though, to be true, dis weather's far fairer than de norm, where we be goin'."

"The Triangle can be deceptive, no?" Maria suggested. "Some days it is clear near that accursed place, others not so much."

"This is different," Rafael murmured in his soft voice, his hands steady on the wheel even if his stance was favoring his bad knee. "I don't like it, captain."

Maria turned to look out at the horizon, clear and open and shining under the intense daylight. Suddenly she saw what two of her most trusted crew meant; usually approaching their destination meant the air becoming unnaturally cool, fog and threatening rocks beginning to appear. This was not right.

"Sail on until we reach our usual position," Maria decided, frowning slightly. "Then we take in sail and drop anchor to look closer. Better to be safe than sorry."

"You always say dat when we approach the Triangle, captain," Luciano muttered, though he didn't complain. Most of the _Falcon_ 's crew had sailed under Maria's command over the past five years; they knew her roughly-yearly pilgrimage to the Devil's Triangle was no fancy or means to show her fearlessness to the men under her command. Maria knew they were all well aware of her reputation and her history, though it was not so storied as men like Blackbeard, Teague, or even Sparrow and Barbossa. But there was enough to make men uneasy at the sight of her.

She spotted the _Falcon_ 's boatswain and her uncle, Jozefo, at the ship's fore, watching the water and standing near where Maria had prepared the memory boat she always sent into the Triangle on this yearly trip. Like her, Jozefo was sensitive to spirits and strange occurrences, more so than Maria herself. If anything truly strange was going on, he would be feeling it. She decided to leave him to his study and remained astern, scanning the horizon for the telltale jagged rocks and fog marking the Devil's Triangle.

Noon had come and gone when Luciano shouted for the anchor to be dropped and the canvas brought in. Maria began descending to the main deck for Jozefo, an uneasy pit in her stomach at the clear horizon in front of the _Falcon_ 's bow. Her uncle was nearly head-and-shoulders taller than her, with midnight-dark skin that rivaled Luciano's, and a quiet demeanor that only seemed at odds with his tasks in keeping the crew in line. Jozefo turned to glance down at her as she stood next to him and sighed heavily, arms crossing over his broad chest.

"Something fearsome dark has been loosed on the sea," he reported. "Something the Triangle was holding at bay, but no more."

"Like what?" Maria dared to ask, frowning as she returned his look.

"Death."

Maria swallowed as her unease grew worse, but she made herself ignore it before climbing onto the rail to balance and look over the water more closely. The waves were choppy but calm, almost as if a ship had sailed through and departed hours ago. No sign of rocks, or that an island had even been here at all. The wind picked up, and Maria found herself shivering before getting both feet back on the deck.

"Captain! O'er here!" one of her sailors called out from the port side. "Summat in the water, there!"

Maria turned in time to find the man pointing down, and a few others rushed over in curiosity before Maria could push past their numbers around one of the top guns and look for herself. A small shape bobbed in the water, very near the _Falcon_ 's hull and about the size of a child's toy boat. Maria's chest clenched before she managed to reach for a hook to snare the object to lift it towards the deck and catching it in her hand: a small boat, complete with a mast and tattered sail. Waterlogged tallow, as if from a candle long snuffed out, clung to the bottom of the boat. As Maria ran her hands over the soaked wood, she felt runes and symbols roughly carved along its hull, signs meant to find a spirit and guide them on to the next world.

" _Dios_ ," Maria breathed as she began to sense energy from the little boat - one she had sent into the Triangle as she had for years - both the original guiding power and something else, something dark and vicious that the little boat had bound to it.

"Captain?" another sailor asked behind her. "What…what's the matter?"

"…we need to get to shore, make port as soon as we can," Maria insisted, turning away from the rail and keeping the boat in her grip as she passed the hook off. "If we can."

Maria shouldered through the crew, even passed a concerned Rafael, as she marched up to the wheel, keeping the boat tucked under her arm.

"You heard me, weigh anchor and drop sail!" she barked, sending the crew scurrying. " _Vamos_ , if you wish to see land!"

Rafael was first to limp up to where she stood, concern etched through his eyes and brow as he sat on a chair nailed to the deck for him to rest his lame knee. Although he was still relatively new to the crew, Rafael's dedication to being the _Falcon_ 's helmsman had won him Maria's trust, placing him on equal standing with Luciano and Jozefo when it came to advising their captain. Maria was glad he let her sail directly for a time, to let her worry gnaw its way through her. The memory boat stayed tucked under her arm, close as Maria absorbed the feel of the aura now surrounding it. The anger, the hunger, enhanced and snarling such that it nearly devoured what little warmth came from it.

"…Maria, what is happening?" Rafael asked once the _Falcon_ was underway under Maria's hand. "What's gotten you so anxious?"

"Some evil thing the Triangle was holding has been freed," Maria dared to answer, "and whatever it is, it is using my father's spirit."

She glanced to find Rafael paling at the thought of _el matador del mar_ returned to the sea, and Maria turned back to focus on taking her hunting bird to safety. She had to know for certain, and even if it wasn't she had to protect her ship and crew, as captain. Once she knew…she could think of something.


	2. 2: Bargains

The problem with being who she was, Maria often mused as the _Falcon_ cruised over the waves, was how quickly sailors - pirates and navy men alike - immediately thought of the ship she had been named for, and the man that had captained her. More than once when letting the rush of battle die down, prisoners on a ship she had boarded would watch her in horror and fear, whispering _Salazar_ to each other as if trying to ward off a devil.

Perhaps they had not been wrong.

Maria easily tamed her musings to return to the present, looking down to the slightly-charred and battered little boat in her hands. Below her, her crew kept the sails taut for the wind as they sailed at best speed to the nearest open port that wouldn't look too closely at the pirate ship that would weigh anchor there. The _Falcon_ was a swift brig, one of the fastest ships Maria had been on, but it could not match whatever unholy power had been unleashed from the Triangle.

"Get to land, make a plan," she breathed to herself, a thumb rubbing over the little boat's hull.

"Talking to yourself again, _capitan_?" Rafael asked from the wheel. "Thought that was a bad habit."

"Ah, you know me, I must hear myself think sometimes," Maria replied with a faint chuckle and a sigh. She turned from the rail she had been leaning against towards Rafael, watching him guide her hunting bird towards a roost. She had freed Rafael and nearly a hundred other slaves from one of those ships from hell a year and a half ago, yet he refused to tell her how he - clearly from Mexico, given his harsher accents in Spanish and lighter complexion than most of Maria's crew - had ended up chained in the hold. Nor would he tell the story of how his right knee had been mangled to where he could only limp over the deck yet stand at the wheel sleeplessly for hours.

"…I hope I know you well enough to say that…whatever has happened with the Triangle, it does not mean well. For any of us," Rafael noted as he looked over at her with his deep brown eyes.

"Perhaps," Maria agreed, "but we do not know for certain yet. I have seen many a strange thing on these waters but this would be the most unnatural yet."

"With the most unnatural right now being?"

"Watching the _Flying Dutchman_ go down a maelstrom, then rise back to the surface as if she had never gone down in the first place," Maria answered without missing a beat. "I was too far from her to see much else."

"That must have been…a very long time ago," Rafael replied, though he was clearly trying to guess just what she meant; before the _Falcon_ had liberated him, as Maria understood, he was strictly a landsman. He still had little idea just what all the ocean hid in its great vastness.

"Not so long ago, not on the sea," Maria told him before looking down at the little boat in her hands again. _Not so long ago, then, when you were gone thanks to Jack Sparrow._

"Maria!" Jozefo's voice cracked over the air. She stood from where she leaned to find her uncle on the deck, where he pointed out over the water. "A ship to starboard!"

Maria reached into her coat pocket after setting aside the boat and opened her spyglass before peering through. A ship indeed; a merchant galleon from the look of her, probably with few guns and a crew unlikely to resist a full boarding. Another pirate would have found it easy prey to bring to ruin; Maria simply saw a worthy opportunity. She lowered her spyglass and tucked it away before nodding to Rafael.

"Let's earn some pay today before coming to rest; to stations!" Maria ordered briskly. A risk, maybe, but perhaps the dark spirits would cast their gaze elsewhere first. "Luciano, hoist colors, let us see if they surrender first!"

"Aye, captain!" Luciano's voice just barely acknowledged over the sudden bustling explosion of activity on the _Falcon_ 's main deck as most of the gun crews rushed below while a handful of others readied the four guns - one pair of cannons and two fore chase guns - above. It wasn't long before the _Falcon_ 's piratical colors were streaming from the mainmast: black canvas featuring a white skull cracked at the top, a red sword plunged through the skull.

"Rafael, hold course, let us chase them down!" Maria ordered, her heart racing in exhilaration as the _Falcon_ turned to go after the galleon. She braced her hands on the rail as her crew charged to action, Jozefo snarling calumnies as encouragement from below while Luciano ran up to the bow to ensure the chase guns were ready. As the _Falcon_ began to close the gap, Maria could just make out figures moving in a panic on the merchant ship - whether readying to repel an attack or run up the white flag, she couldn't be sure. Maria clapped Rafael on the shoulder before bounding down onto the deck, watching their next prize draw closer.

"Luciano! Warning shot, past their port flank!" Maria called. This time she heard no confirmation, just the thunder of the port chase gun firing, splintering the merchant - the _Gentle_ , from what Maria could make out of the ship's name across her stern - just enough to cause them panic. Rafael steered them to the _Gentle_ 's starboard side, giving Maria an excellent angle to see several of the merchant sailors waving white flags; a clean break. "Boarders ready, light arms!"

A number of spare gunners from below rushed back topside, many clutching daggers or cutlasses with pistols holstered - enough to defend themselves if the boarded crew decided to be foolish, but ensure there wasn't any intent of such notions. Once the _Falcon_ was close enough, Maria sprang over the side with the boarding party, close enough to the merchant sailors to make them flinch back with her saber drawn.

"Now now, no need to be so," Maria chided as she strode forward easily, lightly letting her blade catch the sunlight. "My men and I simply wish to take the best of your wares aboard our own ship. After all, we are just pirates, needing a bit of coin to make our way."

" _Just_ pirates, feh," one of the sailors spat, but before he could continue his complaint Maria crossed to him within two paces.

"If you're to be like _that_ , perhaps you are not worth sparing," she hissed, blade raised close that she could kill him in a swift twitch of her wrist. "I do not wish to kill a man who does not deserve it, but keep talking like that and you may earn that…particular honor. Not one your family would appreciate, I think, no?"

The sailor immediately fell silent, his defiant stare melting into sky-blue fear before he shifted his head in obvious agreement. Good. Maria lowered her blade and moved away from the cowed sailor, striding casually for the main hold. She gently used her toe to kick up the hatch, then whistled sharply to summon her men to drop down and get an inventory. Anything of high quality or potential value, they would take and barter at their next port. The _Gentle_ would be allowed to continue to her destination, albeit with a lighter load of goods and fewer coins. It wasn't as fulfilling as breaking slave ships, but principles unfortunately did not feed a crew or keep the _Falcon_ supplied for the minimum - which had become increasingly trickier in recent years. But Maria did her best, without violating her honor or breaking the Code.

The boarders returned with, as Maria had expected, a very small haul indeed: two coffers of silver and pewter pieces, three bolts of very fine cloth, and three kegs of molasses that some clever man of her crew would transform into rum within the night. The silver and the cloth could be sold, and the pewter would more likely be used in some way on the _Falcon_ if it couldn't be sold. As the goods were moved from the _Gentle_ to the _Falcon_ Maria swept a gracious bow.

" _Gracias, señores_ , for your donation today!" she called in farewell as she swung back to the _Falcon_. "Stow the goods, make way!"

Maria ventured up to the helm as Rafael set the _Falcon_ on a new course away from the _Gentle_ , but hopefully soon to shore. And yet…Maria paused as she reached the helm, brows beginning to furrow as a tingle of _feeling_ tickled over her skin. She was already moving for the helm when Rafael yelped in fright.

"Fire! _Capitán_ , fire!" Rafael shouted as he staggered away from the wheel. Maria was first up the steps as two sailors - followed by Jozefo - scrambled after her with buckets of water to douse the flames. The little boat recovered from the water had somehow burst into flame where Maria had left it, and was reduced to ash as the flames were quenched.

"It's coming," Jozefo breathed, and a chill shot down Maria's spine before she heard panicked screams from behind the _Falcon_. Turning revealed the _Gentle_ where they had left her to sail, but looming over her was a blackened, skeletal hull, her ribs spreading wide as the ship rose out of the water like a leviathan.

"All hands on deck, all arms!" Maria ordered, even though Jozefo gripped her shoulder fiercely. Rafael had dragged himself to her other side, staring in horror as the ghost ship brought itself down on the _Gentle_ , shattering her masts and hull. The _Falcon_ 's crew answered her order, all twenty-some men under her command soon taking in the terrible sight of the ghost ship beginning to come for them.

"We can't outrun that thing!" Rafael insisted, even as Maria gripped his wrist tightly. "The _Falcon_ is swift but that…"

"We need a plan," Jozefo rumbled. "And not a foolish one."

"Unfortunately, a foolish plan is all I have," Maria muttered. She gave Rafael's wrist one last squeeze before shrugging free of Jozefo to descend to the deck. She moved through her men to the bow, where the year's newest memory boat floated in a barrel, right where she had left it before setting sail. Maria fished out the boat to tuck into her arm before moving back towards the mainmast, standing among her men.

The ghost ship moved silently over the water, hardly breaking the waves rolling beneath her as she approached. Maria could make out the charred and splintered female figurehead, veiled for judgment and holding a spear at the ready. She knew enough of the stories to guess the name of the ship - and who captained her. Maria noticed Luciano squaring up alongside her, though he seemed more nervous that he dared let on.

"I t'ink we be gettin' in some kinda hell trouble here," he muttered, "but we all die for dis ship and her captain. You ain't ne'er steered us astray."

"Except today?"

"Yah, maybe so."

"Then we'll have to hope this works," Maria breathed as the ghost ship began to rise, in the same manner that she had crushed the _Gentle_. Despite the chorus of readied pistols and drawn swords, Maria readied no weapon. She raised instead the boat and willed her voice to stay even.

" _Captain Salazar!_ " she shouted in clear Spanish. " _I think you are looking for this, if not my flag! I know why these have found their way to you! Let us parlay and I will share this information!_ "

"No, no, what de hell, _captaine_ ," Luciano hissed in uncertainty. "You don't know dat -"

"I do know," Maria whispered back. "And if he does not believe me we will all die anyway."

The looming skeleton of the ghost ship paused her ascent, and Maria shivered as she saw figures moving on the curling deck. One leaned over the side, and she felt an unnatural gaze on her. Maria shifted her hold on the memory boat, so its silhouette and her features were clear. The figure vanished, perhaps to relay what he had seen, and the ghost ship remained still, seawater dripping down from her splayed ribs onto the pirates awaiting doom or mercy.

Maria would have sighed in relief as the crew perched on the ship towering over the _Falcon_ moved and flickered, but not for long. With surprisingly loud landings full of hissing and snarling, a complement of black-clothed, ruined men sprang from their ship to the _Falcon_ , many with swords drawn. Maria turned as her crew flinched back, some shifting as if to attack but they held firm; unless Maria gave the order, as suicidal as it would be, they would not strike. That was her hope, at least.

"Easy," she murmured when one such ghost landed near her and Luciano, and her first mate whirled, pistol aiming for the boarder's face. The one-eyed ghost bared his teeth in a ferocious smile - as if daring Luciano to shoot - that was made more so by the cracked and marbled look of his skin. With him so close, Maria could tell that these were Spanish military uniforms - decades-old Spanish military uniforms, at that. Sometimes she hated being right.

A landing heavier than any of the other ghostly sailors re-echoed behind her, and Maria had to keep her composure as she turned towards the looming, corpse-pale face leering at her. Even above the water his hair drifted and floated, showing dark waves he had had in life. The devilish yellow of his eyes only paled the brown they had been once. Maria knew the features she stared into as well as her own, and even then, part of her deep inside cringed in horror at the sight of her father.

"…and what kind of _pirate_ are you, hm?" Armando Salazar, a captain of the Spanish Navy, spat in English. "Why offer information that is not of use to me, eh, _senorita_?"

"You wouldn't have stopped from destroying my ship and crew if you hadn't thought this was important to you," Maria answered, raising the boat for him to see. Salazar wheezed as he took a step back, as if transfixed by it for the moment. "Another one of these was left where you were imprisoned. That was what brought you here."

"… _bruja_ ," he snarled as he looked back to her. Black spittle - or blood, for all Maria knew - coated his teeth and began to run down his chin. Still Maria tried to maintain her composure, to not show her fear. It didn't help that Salazar arched back, sword rising in preparation to lunge. "Why would you _dare_ to command _me_?"

"Not command; guide," Maria breathed. "To bring peace to my papa's spirit. …to your spirit."

Salazar froze, his expression shifting from anger and hate to suspicion even though he did not lower his sword. Murmurs crept over the deck, ghostly whispers of surprise from Salazar's crew. Maria stayed still, refusing to shake, but she wasn't sure if she was at all comforted as Salazar smirked, lowering his blade to lean upon.

"A lie," he hissed. "One your crew shall pay for. Unless your sweet words can spare as many as you can, I suggest you speak quickly, _senorita_."

Even before he began tapping his sword into the _Falcon_ 's deck Maria began to speak, a rapid flow of her first language covering speed English could not match.

" _My mother's name is Rebeca, once a slave on Hispaniola serving in a plantation house running the accounts!_ "

One, two taps. Two howls as Salazar's men ran two of hers through.

" _You visited once, four months before your battle against ten pirate ships! You heard her singing from the dining room and left the company of her master to find her! You sang together and by the end of three weeks she loved you!_ "

Three more taps, three more dead. Yet Salazar's eyes were studying her closely, as if weighing judgment upon her.

" _Captaine_ , bettah tell him somet'in good, yah?" Luciano advised warily, only earning another tap from Salazar and the sixth man dead.

"…she said your coat was made of starlight, that night," Maria hissed, and the steady rapping halted as Salazar's eyes widened. "That the tide was coming in as you called her the rarest treasure you had ever seen."

Something in him seemed to shift, as Salazar wheezed again and hunched slowly, leaning onto his sword as a cane. Maria started forward, ever so slightly, but he flinched back with a snarl.

"…what is your name, girl?" he murmured, head bowed and turned away from her. Was it shame?

"Maria," she replied. "Maria Salazar."

Of all things, a sound not unlike a chuckle eked out of his throat before Salazar turned, stamping across the deck away from Maria.

"...orders, _capitan_?" the one-eyed ghost – the first mate, perhaps – asked Salazar. Maria held the memory boat into her chest, trying to will any influence it had over him to spare her, her crew and ship.

 _Please, papa._

"…the girl comes aboard," Salazar growled as he turned back. "The others…"

"You saw our raid of that merchant ship you conveniently destroyed," Maria spoke up. "Not a man killed. Left with enough goods to still earn some coin."

"How convenient," Salazar grumbled. "Fine, these filthy pirates can live. For now. But you, _senorita_ …"

He whirled back around to storm to her. Maria started back on reflex as her father bared his teeth in a snarl, the yellow light in his eyes flaring before that light seemed to soften. Salazar's hand – a cold grasp that shook through her bones – tightened around her arm, making the little boat fall to the deck as Maria tried to restrain a nervous whimper.

"…you will come with me," he hissed. For two seconds Maria was grateful she kept her saber and pistol kit on her person before Salazar leaped from the _Falcon_ to the snarling skeleton of the _Silent Mary_ , with her in tow. He half-threw Maria as he landed, and she tumbled into a corner of the quarterdeck, beneath the poop deck and near a door to quarters beyond. Maria felt her head spinning as the _Mary_ began to pull away from her hunting bird, the ghostly crew leaping back aboard. She would have risen to her feet, but her father's second landed in front of her with a long glare.

"I would not," he rumbled. Before Maria could argue, the hilt of his saber rammed into the side of her head, and Maria knew no more.


	3. Memory: To Sail

**_A Memory: Shipwreck, age 10_**

"Looking to be hired, _por favor_!"

Some pirates gave her odd looks from where she sat and shuffled past her. Maria chewed on her lip before adjusting the sign she held across her shoulders and lap, and then resettled on the barrel she had sat down on hours ago. Some pirates could read, but not all of them. If she wanted to be a sailor like Papa, someone _had_ to take her on.

"I'd make a good cabin girl or lookout, I only need a small bit of any pay!" she called out as another group passed, these ones already drinking from heavy glass bottles. None of them seemed to hear, or didn't want to. Sailors were superstitious, but pirates were _very_ much so. Maybe they didn't want a girl on ship because then in a few years she'd be a woman and that was bad luck. Not to mention Mama wanted her to keep up a reading education, too; they'd learned to read and write English together, but Mama was insisting Maria learn to read and write Spanish, too. And history. And lots of sums. And manners, which sounded terrifying.

 _Your papa would want you to be a little lady, Maria, so for him we should both work hard to learn_.

Maria sighed heavily as she looked out at one curve of the massive harbor around the pirate town of Shipwreck. She didn't want to be a lady; she wanted to sail. Maybe even become a captain one day, like Papa had, even with all the scary stories of him and his ship. Clearly joining one of the navies was out of the question, because navy sailors weren't girls. So she would have to go on a pirate ship.

That was becoming less likely by each long waiting moment.

"Well hello there, lil' lass."

Maria jumped at the sudden voice, and hissed in a breath as she looked up into the seamy face of a pirate captain. He was dressed very well even for that, with kind dark eyes and a small grin above his goatee. She had only seen Captain Edward Teague from far away in Shipwreck, but here he was!

" _Hola, capitan_ Teague," Maria greeted him shyly. "Are…are you looking for a cabin girl, o-or lookout? You won't –"

"I can read, lass, no need to repeat what I can see," Teague answered, leaning against a stack of crates next to Maria's barrel. "Your requested pay's reasonable, but ye've a line regards…education? What all will you want to learn?"

"To sail, _capitan_!"

"Other than that?"

"Oh. Reading and writing _en espanol_ , history, sums, and since you're going to maybe be the Keeper one day you'd teach me the Code, too?"

"Mighty tall order for such a little girl," Teague replied. "Can't your mama teach you most of those things?"

"No, and…and I want to sail, _capitan_ , very much," Maria pressed. " _Mi papa_ sailed, that's…that's how he disappeared. When he was out on the sea."

"And who was your papa, hm?"

Maria glanced away uncertainly.

" _Capitan_ Armando Salazar, of the Spanish navy," Maria managed to answer. As she'd guessed, even Teague shuddered a little at her father's name. Yet despite that he didn't completely recoil, toying with one of the braids hanging from his chin.

"Wouldn't be fair of me to say no just because of who your father was," Teague eventually said. Maria stared as he continued, "Very well, Miss Maria, how'd you like to sail with me, hm?"


	4. 4: Fire Down Below

Maria didn't dare move from the cot she'd woken in, her head throbbing from where she'd been hit. The hiss of the _Silent Mary_ as she passed over the ocean had woken her, but at the very least Maria was alone - though she despised being so still on the cot, instead of feeling the sway of the waves in her hammock. It didn't help her pistol, saber, and miscellanies were no longer on her person.

From her vantage, however, Maria was able to sketch out her functioning cell, which must have been the captain's quarters when the _Mary_ was whole. The door into the hold was to the right from the foot of her bed, solid wood although blackened and splintered. There was a great amount of space, even for just the captain's quarters, and Maria could see the remains of a desk, lamps, bookshelves and other furniture. The windows that would have wrapped about the stern and enclosed the cabin were completely gone, with the ocean wind whipping through the broken timbers.

She moved very slowly, even though Maria's head kept throbbing once she was sitting upright. Maria made sure to wait for the pounding to stop before daring to stand. Luckily she didn't fall, and Maria carefully untied her headscarf to shake out her hair and check the bruise along her temple. No lump, no break; it could have been far worse. She wrapped the scarf about her neck before taking a few steps towards the door.

Almost as soon as Maria pushed open the door one of the ghost sailors pushed his unnatural weight to the door to keep her from slipping out. Maria could only get a brief look out to the quarterdeck - mizzenmast and wheel in front of her, other figures including her father - before she was pushed back inside and the door shut firmly.

"You can't keep me prisoner forever, Papa!" Maria shouted before slamming her fist into the door. "You can't just leave me in here!"

Maria hit the door once more before pacing back in agitation. He wouldn't have taken her hostage, she figured, had he not believed at least a part of her tale. Not to mention spared her crew and the _Falcon_ entirely, even with the more-than-quarter of her crew murdered as Maria tried to sway him. Maria stepped carefully towards the ruined windows and looked out from the rear. She thought she could faintly make out the sails of a ship behind them - following, perhaps, at great distance. None of her crew would leave her to whatever fate the terrible Salazar had in store for her. That, she knew for fact.

She took a few steps away from the gaping view and just managed to catch herself from falling through a tear across the floor of the cabin. Once Maria caught her balance, she crouched to examine the broken deck. There was just enough room, perhaps -

Maria yelped as the _Silent Mary_ bucked under her, timbers groaning all around her, and Maria just managed to pitch herself forward through the floorboards. She landed on a gun deck below the captain's quarters - four stern chase guns were there, unattended - and, luckily, no members of the _Mary_ 's crew to stop her. Maria picked herself up and brushed her wild hair out of her face before moving back into the ship's massive gun deck - or tried to. After making it about a third of the way onto the gun deck a splitting, screeching sound rang from the burned timbers, and Maria just managed to catch onto a support beam with both arms as the ghost ship began to rise out of the water above another ship - this one a galleon as well, but flying a red flag marked with a black skull and crossed sabers.

 _One of Barbossa's fleet_ , Maria realized as the boards under her opened, forcing her to wrap arms and legs around the column. The hairs on her arms rose as vicious, angry power flowed through the _Mary_ , and Maria had to clench her jaw to restrain a howl of fear that tried to claw out of her chest. As swiftly as the _Mary_ towered over her prize, she crashed down upon it, the splayed ribs closing like a fist around the pirate vessel's mainmast and top deck. Maria just barely clung on, eyes shut but she could still hear the terrified screams of the pirates below as their ship was immediately split in half. A flare of heat and the stench of gunpowder was Maria's only warning, and she just managed to release her panicked grip on the column and bolt back for the stern chase deck. As soon as Maria dropped to the deck, the explosion of the ruined vessel's powder magazine sent fire tearing through the _Mary_ 's already-burned holds. The force and heat reverberated through the floor, and Maria fought back that panicked yell as the _Mary_ passed over the ruins of the ship, resettling on the water and continuing on her course.

" _Madre de dios_ ," Maria breathed as the seconds of panic passed and she tried to calm her pounding heart. She raised her head to see the wreckage strewn on the waves behind the ghost ship; it seemed that there were no survivors to tell that tale from what she could see. Hopefully there was one; all the stories said so.

Maria had just gotten to her feet to shake the dust off when she heard heavy footsteps on the deck above – heading towards her intended prison. She swore under her breath and did so again to find the splintered timbers above were too high for her to jump to. The best she could do would be going back down the deck and finding a way up to the fore or quarterdeck, then praying she could make a quick dash to the cabin. Shouting above hinted Maria would be found before she ever set foot on deck.

"So much for any plan," she muttered as she began moving back into the _Silent Mary_ 's interior. No sooner had Maria returned to that same beam she had clung to was she suddenly surrounded by the ghosts that made up the ship's remaining crew. Maria stayed very still as they watched her, none going for their weapons but clearly awaiting the order. She sensed her father's approach long before he appeared in front of her, leaning heavily on his sword and teeth bared in a sickening smile.

"Did you _really_ think you could just slip away into the water, hm?" he asked, still with that smile. "Where would you go if you did, we are in the middle of the Caribbean, eh?"

"At least out of a holding cell, as lovely as the view is," Maria retorted. "A captain's cabin with the door held shut doesn't make much of a cabin."

Salazar's vicious grin faltered slightly, as if recalling whatever orders he had given regarding Maria's imprisonment - or if it had even been that at all. He glared at the nearest of his sailors before with a swift, frustrated bark they dispersed back to their stations. Maria shivered as they moved, some actively rushing towards the center of the ship and ascending while others simply disappeared, likely to reappear elsewhere on the _Silent Mary_. But it left her and Salazar alone on the gun deck as he limped for her slowly. No malice was in his expression as he stopped a few steps from her, wheezing softly as he came to rest.

"…you did not need to see what this ship can do, what _I_ can do," he hissed. "Unless you think you do."

"I'm a grown woman, _capitan_ ," Maria retorted. "You think I can be scared by a ghost ship that can rise out of the water and crush any ship you command her to?"

"No," Salazar admitted, "but this might."

He grabbed her arm, and Maria yelped as the _Mary_ suddenly shifted around and past them. When Salazar let her go, they were on the quarterdeck, near the wheel, and Maria's knees gave out as her stomach churned.

"…unpleasant, unnerving…not terrifying," Maria managed to groan, earning a gurgling snicker from Salazar.

"Then you are that much more interesting to keep alive," Salazar replied as Maria willed her stomach to calm and managed to get to her feet. "More so if you tell me more of the little boats, mm?"

Maria didn't answer right away, focusing on regaining her feet and making sure she wasn't about to lose her nerve on the sea for the first time. As she stood up slowly, Maria was able to get a complete view of the _Silent Mary_ 's quarterdeck and forecastle. Despite being a wreck, Maria could see just what made the _Mary_ so magnificent and imposing: her length and width had to accommodate for no less than eight total guns from quarterdeck to bow, and Maria didn't doubt more guns had once been hidden in her towers as the fore. Those alone, as well as the stern chasers, were enough to give any pirate vessel pause.

"…tell me more about your ship, and I will tell you about mine," Maria offered, turning to glance at Salazar as he stood at the wheel, watching her. Something in him now seemed more…human. As if whatever terrible thing had found him in the Triangle had a looser hold on him in quieter moments such as this.

"A full one hundred guns made up her arsenal," Salazar murmured, "and no pirate ship was her match. They had nowhere to run once we had their cursed black flag in our sights! Until…"

Salazar snarled, rage flaring in his eyes enough to make Maria shift back warily. If she could distract him, perhaps…perhaps that would be a way to reach the man her father had been - the person her mother still loved, even after so long.

"It was after Mama was free and she left Hispaniola that she made a boat, to remember you and perhaps…guide you to some kind of peace," Maria began, watching Salazar turn away though he was certainly still listening to her. "But she didn't know where you had gone down, so she let them go into the cove where we lived. It wasn't until the first captain to take me on told me where you were that I made one of my own. Sent it into the Triangle for you."

"The _pirate_ that set you off to becoming like them," Salazar spat with a growl.

"No. He was different. And if it were not for him, I would not have found you."

Salazar cocked his head when he turned back to look at her curiously, gaze narrowed but not on the verge of openly arguing. Maria chose her next words very carefully.

"I was a child when I found a yearning for the sea, to venture on the waves. Even if you had lived I could not have done this without becoming a pirate. You wouldn't even know I had been born if I hadn't become a pirate. Does that make me no different than those you hunt even now?"

Maria was too aware of her missing effects as Salazar considered her words, eventually turning over the wheel to a helmsman standing at the ready. He came closer, his steps heavy and the soft rap of his sword keeping Maria firmly in place. She would not flinch in front of him.

"…interesting," Salazar breathed. Maria dared to meet his eyes and was not sure what to make of his expression. Confusion? Regret? Perhaps even disappointment? "More and more interesting, _capitan_ Maria."

Maria wasn't sure that _interesting_ was the right word to reassure her - if that was his intent. But apparently intriguing her father was enough to keep staving off his sword, and he seemed lost in his own thoughts as he moved past her and went out onto the quarterdeck to check over his crew.

"… _senor capitan_ is…lucky to know of you, _senorita_ ," a voice said behind Maria, making her turn to find her father's one-eyed first mate standing a few paces behind her. Other than the massive burns on the right side of his face, there was little indication of what had ended his life. The mate inclined his head in a small bow before he added, " _Disculpen, Senorita_ Salazar; I have not introduced myself. Lieutenant Lesaro, first mate of the _Silent Mary_."

" _De nada_ , Lesaro, _y gracias_ ," Maria replied, effecting a brief curtsey by lifting a side of her justacorps. Maria was surprised by the small smile Lesaro offered as she straightened - clearly, despite his appearance being dead, trying to be as polite and courteous as a Spanish naval officer could. "I guess you are to be my chaperone while I am aboard?"

"Unofficially, _si_ ," Lesaro confirmed. "But…there is one thing I would inform you, first, about the _capitan_ 's quarters. It may seem a prison to you, but it is where you can be safest."

" _¿Por que?_ " Maria asked in confusion. A place where she was to be restrained and kept from view, and yet protect her? From what? And how?

Lesaro motioned her to follow him, and Maria quickly crossed the quarterdeck after him to the cabin door. He opened it, motioning Maria to step inside though he did not follow her in.

"Look at the boards nearest the door," Lesaro noted. "It is those that prevent any of us from entering - even _el capitan_."

Maria frowned briefly before crouching to the boards Lesaro had pointed out. They were smaller than the other planks, even though they ran parallel to the existing floor. Despite having the effective appearance of being burned, they seemed newer, and as Maria ran her hand over one of them she felt symbols carved into them, the same as she had carved into all the little boats she had sent into the Triangle.

"…how…how are these here?" Maria asked as she looked up at Lesaro. "Why are my boats making up this floor?"

"That, you may have to ask your father," Lesaro admitted. "And not even he dares to cross those boards. Each time one was found, he…reacted strangely."

Maria remembered how Salazar had been transfixed by the newest memory boat when the _Mary_ had come upon the _Falcon_. Were her memories and the faint charms carved into it reaching to him, somehow? She would need to think on this. Such a curse - if this was a curse - would not be so lightly broken.


	5. 5: No Rest for the Living

It was night when Maria emerged from her cabin; she didn't worry over a guard, as, per Lesaro showing her the boards, none of the ghosts had any intent of standing near the door, and some more questions revealed that Salazar had asked she be put in the cabin whenever the _Mary_ was to attack a pirate. All was quiet, the stars shimmering softly far above and the moon still offering a faint reddish gleam. Maria stepped lightly over the deck to climb up to the poop deck and stern gallery, to look up at the sky and admire the clear shining lights. The _Silent Mary_ had no lanterns - the ghosts clearly did not need candlelight to make their way - but Maria preferred it that way. She could see the sky more clearly without the extra light too close.

At the very least it distracted her from the _Mary_ destroying another pirate vessel earlier, just as the sun set. Maria had remained in her cabin and had hardly felt the ship move until she had looked out the shattered windows and found wreckage in the distance. A closer look and squinting led her to sighting another of Barbossa's flags caught on the surf. Maria had been certain, and still was, that it wouldn't be long before Barbossa himself heard and would sail out to face the _Mary_ \- and undoubtedly lose if he chose to fight.

A thoughtless tune rose from her chest as Maria watched the sky above; perhaps it was a sad tune, or something hopeful like her mother used to sing. Maria hummed it anyway, letting the calm and quiet and slightly-unnatural sweep over her. The tune rose and fell and wandered, and Maria let it whisk her away from the _Silent Mary_ , just for a moment.

" _…you sing like her_."

Maria started at the sudden murmur of Spanish in her father's voice, and turned to find him a few paces behind her with his hands braced on the pommel of his sword in his usual hunched posture. His eyes flickered in the darkness, the devilish light calmed by the day's carnage. Salazar limped closer hesitantly, trying to smile crookedly at Maria but the shadows only made the attempted reassurance grisly. Maria did well in staying still for him to reach her side, wheezing faintly as he came to rest.

"…does your mama still sing?" Salazar asked after a few quiet moments, after Maria had turned her gaze to the sky again. "It…it has been a long time. Obviously."

"She hasn't sung since I was very young," Maria answered. "I think if she had the chance to see you again, she would. For you."

Maria turned when she heard Salazar chuckle dryly, the sound crackling with unintended malice.

"She would not be so inspired at the sight of me, and we cannot step on land," Salazar answered, almost bitter. "All I have left is my revenge. Yes…revenge on the one who did this to me…"

Maria tensed as her skin smarted - strange it hadn't before - as he shook his head slowly.

"…Jack Sparrow," Maria guessed, and a low hiss emerged from her father in confirmation. "Will killing him free you and your crew? Do you know?"

"…no," Salazar growled reluctantly. "I do not know."

Maria left it at that, the uncomfortable tingling over her skin fading as the subject dropped between them. A glance out from the corner of her eye showed he was still there, the both of them quiet and still. Perhaps she only felt whatever wicked thing possessed her father when it was prodded by his rage. Perhaps…perhaps there was a way to undo his curse. But what?

"…you should sleep, Maria," Salazar murmured gently. Maria didn't know how long they had stood there, becoming comfortable with each other's presence. She dropped her gaze to the gallery rail to find Salazar had rested one hand near to hers - not enough to touch, but close enough that had he moved even the slightest bit he would have brushed her hand. "I have many leagues to go before finding Jack the Sparrow, and take my revenge. Then…then I will rest. For a time."

"And then?" Maria asked. "Will _el matador del mar_ return to the sea, to hunt pirates until the end of days?"

" _Si_ , if I must," Salazar insisted, turning to glare at her as Maria felt the spirit holding him shake in rage and hate. "Every pirate, every last one, until their infection is gone from the sea forever!"

"Even if one such is your own blood?"

He hesitated at that, even as Maria turned to face him fully with her chin raised half in defiance. Salazar's jaw clenched while Maria watched the evil in him fighting with whatever little good that had brought Maria into the world, that had won her mother's heart. For a moment, Salazar shifted his weight as if to lean back, to raise his sword and cut her down; the next, he was turning away, spitting and cursing under his breath. Maria dared a step closer to him, just one step. Her sense still tingled in warning but she ignored it.

"…had you lived I still would have wanted to sail," Maria insisted. "And no navy would accept a girl sailor. I would have to become a pirate - to honor you, and some part of your legacy. Is that not worthy of you? Are the standards and discipline I hold myself and my crew to not _worthy_?"

"So very noble for a _pirate_ ," he growled in response as he began to pace. Maria recognized the motion and began to match him, to mirror each step with her hands behind her back while Salazar planted the tip of his blade ahead of each move. When Salazar turned he paused in confusion at the sight of Maria mirroring his stance. "…what is this?"

"A pirate daughter echoing her naval father," Maria answered, daring a teasing smile. "As much of my career has been."

Salazar's confused look shifted, slowly, to something like pride, something like acceptance, or so Maria hoped. Maybe the idea of her taking up what she could of what he had been was sinking in, pirate or no. There was some hope there after all.

" _Capitan_!" a lookout called from below, immediately drawing both Salazars' attention. The lookout paused in his report at the matched motion before continuing, "A ship, _capitan_ , pirates!"

"Ah, another," Salazar chuckled darkly. He glanced at Maria before waving her to follow him, "Perhaps you can tell me something, hm? Come."

Maria didn't like the sound of that request, but descended to the quarterdeck following Salazar as he limped towards the _Mary_ 's starboard. The ship the lookout reported was there, sailing the opposite direction and clearly unaware that they had been spotted. Maria would have squinted to locate the colors of she didn't have a rusted, but clearly functional, spyglass thrust towards her from her father.

"Look for me," he hissed. "Tell me which pirate flies that flag, hm?"

Salazar brandished the spyglass at her again, and Maria took it carefully, glad it didn't fall to ash in her hand. With it already extended she raised the glass to one eye, closing the other to better scan the other vessel. With the ship so well-lit, it wasn't difficult to make out Barbossa's skull-and-sabers - matching the other two ships the _Mary_ had come upon. Clearly Barbossa would not be pleased at such rapid losses.

"Well?" Salazar pressed. "Who?"

"…the same colors as the other two ships," Maria replied. "Part of a fleet belonging to Hector Barbossa. Wily old man of a pirate and one of the greater powers in these waters."

She lowered the spyglass and collapsed it to offer back, but Salazar waved her off.

"How soon will he sail, you think?" Salazar breathed expectantly. "Three of his ships gone in a day, time for news to reach him…"

"Given his flagship, within the week, perhaps," Maria answered. "And he'll bargain first."

"What?" Salazar laughed incredulously. Some of the nearer sailors paused before snickering themselves, a faint chorus of hissing cackles. Maria refused to let them unnerve her. "A _pirate_ parlay with _me_?"

"I did say he was wily and old," Maria pointed out. "You do not become that way as a pirate unless you are both ruthless with a blade and a master of negotiation. And Barbossa is certainly those things."

"Then I will make sure he receives a suitable invitation," Salazar growled eagerly. " _¡Timonel, curso de cambio!_ "

The order for the change was backed with a hard stomp of Salazar's boot to the deck, and Maria felt a chill down her back at the sudden activity of the entire crew, readying to take down another of Barbossa's ships. She had trained her crew to answer a similar maneuver, though she saved it for more dire situations. Maria just managed to get moving as well, away from the bustle of the crew's preparations. Rather than retreat to the cabin, however, Maria took a place near the wheel, gripping tightly to the rail so the coming transformation didn't send her flying. Salazar slowly ascended to the quarterdeck as well, on the opposite side of the wheel from her, while the _Mary_ turned to starboard and took a course straight for the pirate ship.

"You may not want to watch this," Salazar called to Maria as the _Mary_ cruised onward, the pirate ship still unaware of their closing doom.

"I _will_ watch, Papa," Maria answered; she hardly noticed what she called him. "This…this is part of what you are. And I will not look away because it is not ideal."

She had seen far worse on the waves. At the very least, Maria told herself, the pirates died quickly. Brutally, yes, but quickly. Other captains would stretch out the agony even if the number of bodies to their name was far less - pirates and navy sailors alike, when they crossed their blades.

It didn't stave off the agonized clench in Maria's gut as the helmsman passed the wheel to Salazar, and the magic binding ship and captain flared with hungry hate as before. Even if the pain and fear such a feeling caused rose in Maria's chest, she stayed where she was. She would not hide herself from this.

Maria choked as the panic from the first time she had felt the _Mary_ rise surged again as the bow began to curl skyward, timbers groaning in rage as the _Mary_ opened wide upon her target. She heard the crew of the other ship howling in fear, some trying to muster a response to escape and live another day even with their end looming mere seconds away.

 _There must be a way to end this_.

Maria had to close her eyes, gagging on a restrained scream of fear. She felt the _Mary_ fall on the other ship, heard the splintering cacophony of the pirates' destruction.

 _This cannot be how the sea is ruled._

Maria's grip on the railing slackened, but resisting the _Mary_ 's power sent her to the deck reeling. She thought she felt or sensed the magic fading but was too exhausted to confirm. Maria heard voices around her, sharp orders, and an arm reaching around her, lifting her up and carrying her awkwardly.

 _I have to escape. Barbossa has to be warned. Sparrow has to be warned. There has to be something…_

Maria was too spent to realize she had been pushed into the cabin and left to topple onto the floor. She regained her senses to find her knees tucked into her chest, cheeks streaked with panicked tears as Maria found the door into the cabin in front of her. At the threshold, watching with obvious concern, was her father, one hand braced on the doorframe but carefully keeping himself just outside. Maria sat up slowly as the illness passed, and she heard Salazar's rattling sigh before he leaned his head against the charred frame.

"…the _Mary_ is not a good place for the living, Maria," he murmured once Maria felt more in control of herself. "Remember this. Rest."

Maria didn't trust herself to speak, but nodded in understanding as Salazar left her to recover, the door left open as the cool night air swirled in, then out through the shattered windows. Maria was very slow to drag herself to the bed, as uncomfortable it was for her, and settled in with an exhausted sigh.

"…there must be a way to break this curse," she muttered. "There _must_."


	6. Interlude: Warnings of Revenge

_Ships should not have so many damned stairs_ , Rafael thought to himself in frustration as he limped after Luciano and two of Barbossa's men towards their captain's cabin aboard the _Queen Anne's Revenge_. Even though he had his crutch and his lame leg still had some ability to move, the steps were steeper that those aboard the _Falcon_. Jozefo closed out their procession, ready to catch Rafael if he lost his footing.

They had brought the _Falcon_ to port for two important reasons: first, they were almost out of supplies from trailing after the _Silent Mary_ , or as best as they could given the _Mary_ 's wandering course as she prowled the waves; and, second, they had recovered the three survivors of the three wrecks the _Mary_ had left in her wake. Rafael could only pray Maria was still alive aboard that ship from hell, and if not the entirety of the _Falcon_ 's crew would hunt down the _Mary_ for some vengeance of their own, ghosts be damned. The fact the _Mary_ had not turned on them since Maria was taken hostage was the only sign they could count on aside from Jozefo's constant insistence he would know if his niece were dead.

Rafael had just reached the top of the stairs as the duo Jozefo had managed to corner in a tavern pushed open the doors into Barbossa's quarters; Rafael heard some music playing within and couldn't help an eye roll. That combined with a wince as he accidentally put too much weight on his bad leg and shifted to lean on the railing so Jozefo could move up. He had only been a pirate for something over a year, and Rafael still despised seeing some of Maria's so-called peers steal and kill their way to such riches and devices that were sprawled across the _Revenge'_ s deck. Maria would never have stood for it. She was practical that way.

"Do you think he will do something?" Rafael asked Jozefo as the other two sailors babbled over each other.

"He will have to if he values this," Jozefo answered, his voice quiet as he cast a glare of his own over the glittering treasure below them. "And the survivors are of his fleet. This be a temporary alliance, nothing more."

The sound of a heavy rifle shot nearly made Rafael leap out of his skin and got Luciano to swear loudly in French while the _Falcon_ 's acting captain half-drew his cutlass. The strings had stopped by the time Rafael's ears were done ringing.

" - by the name of Salamander!" one of the two, in a worn-out red coat, finished reporting once Rafael's deafness had passed. Rafael smothered a groan with his palm; had they truly found the two stupidest members of Barbossa's crew?

"No, it was Samovar," the second insisted to his crewmate around his ginger whiskers.

" _Salazar_ , you fools," Jozefo rumbled.

"And, your sirness, we've got some men here, the ones who fished out the survivors!" the first insisted to their captain. "Their captain's been taken hostage, been tryin' to follow their ship but they had to break off due to low supplies. And with the fleet bein' sunk and all…"

"Here we go," Luciano breathed before the two moved out of the doorway at some unseen order. Rafael shifted himself onto his crutch and did his best to follow after Luciano into Barbossa's cabin. _Cabin_ was a useless word, however; the place was rich in a dark way, styled with skeletons covered in gold and filled with heavy black furniture. Standing at a table laden with foods Rafael couldn't begin to name was an older man, face seamed with age and effects of the sea that did not dim the burning blue of his eyes. A silver-gold British wig topped his head, and braced against his hip was the smoking source of the earlier blast: a heavy but well-crafted blunderbuss. Rafael found himself facing more stairs but was able to use the banister to his advantage as he smoothly descended after Luciano.

"Welcome t'ye, masters," the man Rafael could safely guess was Hector Barbossa greeted them once they had all reached the bottom of the stairs. "So ye've faced the _Silent Mary_ with nary a hair on yer heads harmed?"

"No, _captaine_ , no harm - not yet, at least," Luciano spoke up. Rafael didn't mind, as Luciano was in charge with Maria missing for now. "My name be Luciano, sir, first mate'f the _Falcon_. Our own cap'n were able to bargain for our safety while Salazar took her aboard his accursed wreck. Followed for a few days and picked up your men before we had to make for land."

"And I'm grateful to ye," Barbossa replied as he lowered the blunderbuss and sat down in what looked to Rafael like a throne. "But your captain's likely _dead_ by now, if she was taken and that devil cursed e'en in death."

"She is _not_ ," Jozefo interrupted. "My niece is wise, and she is protected by strong spirits. He cannot harm her."

"That so?" Barbossa questioned, though he was smirking. Rafael hated it when any pirate captains that weren't Maria smirked like that. "So ye'll be wantin' to rescue her from his clutches, then? What makes ye think I can help, or that I'd want to help ye?"

"Because so long as he's out there, no one's safe," Rafael suddenly heard himself say. "Maria can only do so much to keep him held back, but as soon as he finds whatever he wants, what stops him from coming back to your ships?"

Barbossa's eyes locked on him, and Rafael desperately wished he had kept his mouth shut before the old pirate rose from his seat again. As Barbossa came out from behind the table, Rafael couldn't help staring at the gleaming peg leg that Barbossa briefly leaned on.

"…you, lad, what be your name?" Barbossa asked him. Rafael felt one of Jozefo's hands protectively land on his shoulder and swallowed.

"…Rafael, _senor capitan_ ," Rafael managed to answer. Barbossa smirked again, and Rafael almost cringed on reflex. Only Jozefo's sure hand kept him upright like the free man he was.

"Well, Master Rafael, perhaps ye'll humor me one final question," Barbossa as he took two rolling steps towards him. "Why might old Armando Salazar be influenced by your dear captain, mm?"


	7. 7: New Headings

Following those first two days, Maria was surprised how normal - or as near as one could get on a ghost ship - life aboard the _Silent Mary_ was. After the rapid assault on Barbossa's fleet, her father's demon seemed to be sated for the time being, and it was obvious that word was beginning to spread of his return. Any ships Maria did sight through his spyglass were too far away to clearly determine as pirate or otherwise. As with her own crew on slower stretches, the crew of the _Silent Mary_ found ways to amuse and entertain themselves. One of the first signs was when two sailors found the holes through the floor into Maria's cabin from the stern chase guns and used their unnatural talents to lift themselves within while she was asleep. They learned that Maria was not at all good-humored when woken from her bed.

After that, however, Maria did her best to get along with the crew, so they didn't fear her as they seemed to fear her father. Her attempts to assemble a fishing rig when there was little rope to be had aboard immediately drew concern; with her being the only person alive aboard the _Mary_ , there were necessities she needed the rest of the crew didn't. Maria made sure to tease and gently prod whenever one of the sailors asked if she was hungry or thirsty, and could they help. Finally it was Lesaro that ordered occasional teams to go into the water and bring back fish for Maria to eat, and even did his best to help Maria have enough clear water to drink. Maria even managed to reclaim one of the near-ruined braziers to use as a cooking surface and nighttime warmth once Salazar allowed her effects to be returned to her. In the firelight, most of the _Mary_ 's crew no longer seemed to be ghosts, or even dead (except for those poor fellows that only had a few pieces left when the Triangle's dark spirits possessed the _Mary_ ). They talked and told tales long into the night, and many listened with great interest as Maria related her own adventures.

All the while Maria hardly saw her father, except when he came about for usual patrols and ensuring the _Mary_ was in good order. With her in what should have been his cabin, Maria didn't know where he retreated to, or what he could be contemplating. She was certain she didn't want to know. Some afterthought and Maria felt she had pushed too hard to make him accept who and what she was when he had only learned of her existence mere hours before their first true conversation in the holds. So Maria didn't go out of her way to speak to him, and the times Salazar made his rounds he didn't go out of his way to speak with her. Only once, when Maria was investigating the _Mary_ 's fallen mainmast and making her way down the fallen part to see how many sails remained below the waterline, he actively recognized her presence. The following night Maria couldn't help laughing with the crew remembering how Salazar had yelled for her to come back and fussed over her once she had, though deeper down she felt comforted. It meant he was trying, or reacted without realizing, to be her father without unnerving her. That was more than enough for the time being.

Come morning of yet another day, Maria found herself straddling the _Mary_ 's bowsprit, holding to one of the tattered sprit sails and corresponding rigging above the figurehead with one hand while observing through her father's spyglass in the other. Something about the wind this morning felt different, as if a response was building in answer to the _Mary_ 's release from the Triangle. She knew Barbossa wouldn't take the loss of three ships silently, and at the helm of the _Queen Anne's Revenge_ it wouldn't take long for him to sail into the _Mary_ 's path.

" _Maria! What do you see?_ " Lesaro called in Spanish from the bow gallery. " _Anything of note?_ "

" _No, not yet,_ " Maria called back in kind, though she eased her seat up so she could straighten from leaning along the bowsprit, lowering the spyglass with a sigh. " _Papa has scared everyone off, I think._ "

And yet she felt it, something coming. Maria huffed and carefully pulled her feet under her, then clambered over the crossbeam to the very tip of the bowsprit before sitting down again. She raised the spyglass again after checking the lens and began to scan for any ships nearby. Her awareness of the _Mary_ itched across her shoulders, and Maria looked down to find Lesaro just below her to make sure she didn't fall into the water.

" _I'm a steady climber, Lesaro, no need to worry_ ," Maria teased him with a chuckle before returning to the spyglass. As she continued her watch, Maria paused as she saw, just beginning to appear in the glass, a massive ship with red sails on approach. She didn't need a closer look to guess one of the foremast sails had Barbossa's colors.

" _Ship approaching, Lesaro_!" Maria barked down to him. "Barbossa!"

Lesaro immediately ran to return to the deck, repeating her report, but Maria stayed put to finish her sweep. Off to the _Revenge_ 's starboard, she saw a set of white sails, one topsail streaked with a band of red diagonally across. The _Falcon_ had returned from a brief respite. Maria couldn't help grinning fiercely at the sight of her beloved hunting bird before collapsing the spyglass and starting her descent from the bowsprit. Now she had plans of her own to examine.

Maria managed to get back onto the foredeck as Salazar appeared on the quarterdeck alongside the helmsman, and Maria lightly moved between the rest of the crew as she made her way to the wheel. Once she'd finished the climb to the quarterdeck, Salazar turned to smirk at her broadly.

"See, Maria, you were right!" he told her triumphantly. "Here comes the pirate just as you predicted. The _Mary_ shall end him as we ended his other ships."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that, Papa," Maria answered. "After all, you let me parlay with you. Times are different now."

"Your situation is not his," Salazar spat as he turned back to the rail. Maria edged to stand beside him. "Only one thing will spare him, just as one thing spared you."

 _Jack Sparrow_ , Maria thought as the _Mary_ and _Revenge_ began to close on each other. _Lucky for him, Barbossa may know something. Hopefully enough to keep him alive._

Maria dared a look to port and saw the _Falcon_ beginning to turn away from the _Revenge_ , beginning to circle into a flanking - or following - position behind the _Mary_. Luciano and Jozefo knew better than to try anything stupid; Jozefo, especially, would keep anyone from acting before Maria was good and ready.

"The cabin, Maria," Salazar warned once the _Revenge_ was in plain sight and he took the wheel from Lesaro. Maria knew better than to argue this time and retreated through the doorway, but once she was across the threshold - safely buffered by the boards from her little boats - Maria turned back to watch. She had never seen the _Queen Anne's Revenge_ for more than one reason, but seeing her now made her far more unnerved than facing the _Mary_ ever had. The _Revenge_ was a frigate nearly matching the _Mary_ for size if not guns, with her dark hull making the red sails stand out in sharp and terrible contrast. Even with the full length of the _Mary_ between Maria and the _Revenge_ , she could see the skeleton figurehead looming from the _Revenge_ 's bowsprit. The spirits consuming the _Silent Mary_ were dark and seething, but far more vicious, Maria sensed, were the ones hidden in the _Revenge_ 's timbers. Everything Maria had heard of Blackbeard was confirmed by the distant feel of his former ship.

With the charms on the boards she stood on, Maria only felt a muted version of the hungering rage that ripped the _Silent Mary_ along her missing keel, and kept braced as the _Mary_ 's bow began to curl up over the _Revenge_ in a snarling threat. For a few moments, Maria wondered if Barbossa was truly going to let the _Silent Mary_ devour his ship, crew, and himself; the _Mary_ was half in the air, half on the water, ready to slam down upon the _Queen Anne's Revenge_ with all her might.

" _Capitan_ Salazar!" an unfamiliar voice yelled from the _Revenge_ , gaining a breath of relief from Maria. "I hear ye be lookin' for Jack Sparra!"

The readying strike immediately halted, the hatred driving the spirits dying in an instant. Maria tested a step outside of the cabin and felt none of the mighty power that had so weakened her before. She watched as, on some silent command, Lesaro and a good handful of the sailors leaped from the _Mary_ 's erect bow out of sight, undoubtedly onto the deck of the _Revenge_ to keep Barbossa's crew from being foolish. Salazar huffed before turning to wave Maria to the wheel.

"Hold her steady," Salazar ordered as he took one hand from the wheel for Maria to take his place. "Let us see if this Barbossa truly understands what I want."

Maria didn't dare argue as she took the _Mary_ 's wheel, nearly gagging at the sudden wave of power that tried to sear her bones before it abated. Once she had both hands steady, Salazar leaped up in a rush of unnatural might, arcing over the _Mary_ and disappearing on the other side of the prow.

"…now I wait," Maria muttered under her breath. She dared to twist around to check through the stern to spot the _Falcon_ circling behind, watching. That would be all she could do; Maria had to hope Barbossa could talk his way aboard, or at least persuade Salazar that he could provide a heading on where Sparrow was. The only problem then, Maria decided, was keeping her father from killing Sparrow on sight.

Killing Jack Sparrow wouldn't break the curse on the _Mary_ , Maria was certain. If there was a way, she would have to hope that whatever agreement her crew made with Barbossa would lead them to an answer. There had to be a ritual, an artifact, _something_ that would undo the damage Sparrow had caused. But she had to be patient. If Barbossa knew anything and had allied with her crew, and managed to come aboard, Maria would learn of his plan if he deigned to share it.

Within a few minutes, mercifully, it was done; the _Mary_ 's crew began to return, but each ghost was carrying at least one living pirate from the _Queen Anne's Revenge_. When Salazar returned to the main deck, he dropped a well-dressed man in a British bicorn hat and a matching wig beneath it with him. Rather than return to the helm, though, Salazar loomed over the man, waiting for him to stand and shifting impatiently.

 _Barbossa_ , Maria realized once her father's prisoner managed to stand. She saw the difficulty at once as he flared his cape: one of his legs was gone, replaced with a fine gold-detailed peg, and Barbossa leaned heavily on a crutch that was well-hidden beneath the folds of his silk cape. Rather than allow any fear to show, Barbossa swept his gaze about the deck, and Maria made sure to meet his gaze as he looked up to the quarterdeck. She was rewarded with a faint smirk before Barbossa began his approach to the wheel, closely followed by Salazar.

" _You_ must be _Senorita_ Maria, mm, lass?" Barbossa asked with a grin as he approached the wheel. "Ye have your crew t'thank for tellin' me what all befell ye."

"Good to see another living face, however, _capitan_ ," Maria greeted him in kind, inclining her head with appropriate respect for a pirate lord.

"Enough pleasantries," Salazar spat, scowling as he stepped around Barbossa to take the wheel from Maria. "You will take me to _Sparrow_."

"As I said, _el capitan_ , I'll get ye to him by sunrise on the morrow," Barbossa insisted, though a pit fell into Maria's stomach. Sparrow, so close? There was no time, then, at least at present. "One last thing before I take me temporary place."

Salazar huffed in exasperation but didn't stop Barbossa from gently taking Maria's elbow, walking with her towards the cabin door.

"I bring ye this, from a lad named Rafael," Barbossa murmured as he pulled a piece of paper from his vest, presenting it to Maria. "Your ship plans t'sail a small ways behind, t'keep anythin' untoward from occurrin'."

" _Gracias, capitan_ ," Maria breathed as she took the letter. "Tell me at least you have a plan to slip away from this mess. I came aboard without much plan for getting off again."

"Trust me, lass," Barbossa noted with a grin, "ye'll have that chance, and without anythin' to stop ye. The details are all written upon that letter."

The last sentences Barbossa said were only just loud enough for Maria to hear as the _Mary_ came down onto the sea, beginning to turn away from the _Queen Anne's Revenge_ as the famed frigate slowly began to drift without a crew to guide her home. Maria offered Barbossa one last nod before the old pirate turned to lopsidedly take the _Mary_ 's wheel, Salazar shifting to a hovering stance near his temporary navigator. Before she could be noticed, Maria ducked into the safety of her cabin to unfold the letter. Rafael wasn't literate, but apparently someone had transcribed it on his behalf.

 _Captain Maria,_

 _We are safe. The ship too. Jozefo found two men of Barbossa's when we made port to supply and he took me to see a witch-woman. She said Jack Sparrow is going to find a trident, and Barbossa will get it to ensure his wealth and power. I asked her about you, if you would be safe. She said you would have to choose between living and dying. Please do not choose to die. I would be sad if you did._

 _Stay safe. We will not be far._

A wobbly X was scrawled onto the foot of the letter, and Maria managed a sigh. She didn't know of any trident, but if it somehow had power to end this curse… This chase had better be worth it.


	8. 8: Prices to Be Paid

With Barbossa effectively tied to the wheel, Maria kept her night busy with keeping the remaining crew of the _Revenge_ fed and calm. There were enough pirates to make the cabin cramped, as many retreated there more out of terror than knowing its true protective nature. Maria was able to get the cooking brazier moved to the poop deck near the stern gallery with help from the _Mary_ 's crew and was glad most of the pirates decided to sleep and avoid the ghosts rather than make trouble.

Maria stayed up on the gallery even after the pirates had gone quiet in the captain's cabin, reading Rafael's letter over again, rubbing a thumb over his mark. She hated waiting, hated holding on with no plan or design - or one that couldn't be immediately enacted. Hunting this trident was one thing, but for that she needed her own ship and a heading.

Maria breathed a couple of curses before descending from gallery to quarterdeck. Barbossa was at the wheel, but he turned his head to grin at her faintly.

"Ah, some quiet followin' yer care'f me crew," he commented as Maria paced behind him anxiously. "What be botherin' ye, lass?"

"There's no plan, is there," Maria hissed, voice low in case her father was nearby. "For escaping. For this…hunt once Sparrow is found."

"Ye don't trust me?" Barbossa asked in slight offense as she passed behind him on her first circuit. "After your crew came to me, t'tell yer tale, and e'en convinced me to find a way t'get ye that letter so ye knew the stakes?"

"No, in fact," Maria replied. She paused a second turn to lean against one side of the rail, glaring at him. "What _trident_?"

Barbossa smirked as their gazes met, and he chuckled faintly.

"There be only one such trident that can end any an' all curses on the sea," Barbossa answered her, straightening a little with some sense of self-importance before he cast his gaze over the _Silent Mary_ , like he was her master. "One such power o'er all the ocean and those that sail upon it."

"…you say these things as though I am to understand."

Barbossa looked back to her with a fierce smirk.

"The Trident of Poseidon, Miss Salazar. Surely ye've heard of _that_ in your sailin' years."

Maria stared at him as realization settled in. _That_ trident.

"If Jack reaches the Trident afore Salazar, he'll try to free himself from his huntin'," Barbossa continued. "An' if Salazar reaches the Trident instead, Jack'll be dead and the seas under your undead father's command."

"And you want to be the third option," Maria estimated. "You take control of the Trident, you become the greatest of the Brethren in wealth and power both."

"Aye, ye see it well," Barbossa chuckled as he returned his focus to the wheel, one hand reaching for a compass at his belt. "And, perhaps, if ye and I remain allied, I'll free yer father, his ship an' crew, from the foul curse that's befallen them. With more…benefits if this partnership continues."

Maria was more intrigued to see Barbossa flip the compass open. She could just barely see that the red marker on the lodestone…was _not_ pointing north, instead aligned with the _Mary_ 's current heading. Just as Maria leaned forward slightly to look closer, Barbossa snapped the compass shut and tucked it away. As he did, he smoothly turned to face her, eyes squinted in pleased calculation.

"D'we have an accord, Miss Salazar?"

Barbossa extended a hand to her, and yet Maria hesitated. Yes, Barbossa was a very powerful ally, but one agreement with him, just one, and Maria could find the _Falcon_ flying his colors and not her own. She hadn't come so far to surrender her ship, her agency, or her loyalty. A deal with Barbossa was very like to become a noose around her neck if she wasn't careful.

"…no deal," Maria decided, even as Barbossa frowned in surprise. "The _Falcon_ only sails with you to slow and stop the evil controlling this ship. If the Trident is the only thing strong enough to do it, so be it. But was it not you who said to the Brethren Court some years ago that the sea should not be ruled by mystical deals and bargains of coin, but by the sweat of a man's brow and the strength of his back? Many a sailor standing in the Court spread that tale."

Barbossa lowered his hand slowly at that, expression souring.

"…words of a younger man, held in a bond under such a deal," he grumbled.

"Yet still true, _capitan_ ," Maria pressed. "True until others put weight to such powers and make those deals anew - not knowing what they bargain for."

"And what do you know'f it, lass," Barbossa spat. "Don't argue such matters t'me when I have seen what such things lead to."

Maria reached for one of the two necklaces around her neck, pulling a pewter charm from against her collar for Barbossa to see clearly.

" _Mi mama_ made this for me, before I joined the _Falcon_ 's crew, before I was her captain," she hissed. "A charm, meant to ward away evils that might try to harden my heart. She could have simply marked it and left it at that.

"Instead she spent three weeks in the cellar, she and _mi tio_. They know the magic of obeah, and called on spirits to make the charm's purpose sure and true. I was not allowed to enter that place as they did. They had to pray a price for this -"

Maria tugged on the charm again.

"- to work as I would be told. _Mi tio_ bound his life to mine. Where I sail, so must he. He knows when I am in danger and will give his life for me to live."

Barbossa was quiet for a few moments, watching her, evaluating her. Maria let go of the amulet for it to settle under her shirt again, turning away to brace her hands on the rail.

"…and what price did your mama pay for such a thing?" Barbossa dared to ask. "To protect her only child from the dark powers on the sea?"

"…she's never told me," Maria said, "and neither has _mi tio_. I do not want to know."

"Must've been a high cost, then," Barbossa murmured. "I think, Miss Salazar, I took a wrong measure of ye."

"You would not be the first."

Barbossa chuckled faintly as Maria worked up a faint smirk before sighing. It was not healthy to focus on disagreements or personal distaste; for now, fate or spirits or simple luck had brought her and Barbossa together. Soon, Jack Sparrow would be in the mix, and from what she'd heard of Sparrow anything could happen when he was involved.

Anything was not something Maria wanted to bank on.


	9. Memory: Dark Places and a Lone Light

**_A Memory: The Devil's Triangle_** **,** ** _age 11_**

"Is that it?" Maria breathed as she peered over the _Troubadour_ 's port side at the fog-wrapped island cave. Teague hummed an uncomfortable sound Maria guessed was a 'yes' and she couldn't help a nervous gulp.

"The Devil's Triangle," Teague said. "Aye, where many a captain's pride dared him to sail in and he's never come out."

 _Like Papa_ , Maria thought before her grip tightened around a small boat in her hands. Ever since Teague had started her reading the Code and she had asked him once if her papa had been a bad man, for killing so many, she had asked him, over and over, if he could take her to the place her papa had gone down. He'd only agreed after Maria explained what she wanted to do. It wasn't as though Teague could insist her papa had been bad - because he _could_ have - but the fact he'd let her do this was enough. Maybe when she had a ship of her own she could do this more often.

"Lower the port longboat, lads, me and our lil' miss are goin' down for a bit," Teague ordered. Although some of the sailors protested, Teague made them quiet with a dark stare.

"It's not like we're going _in_ ," Maria made sure to add as she hugged the boat into the chest with one arm. Her other hand was making sure she had a tinderbox to light the candle stuck to the boat's middle, right behind the little mast and short enough so the cloth-scrap sail didn't catch fire. "Just down to the water and back up again."

"Exactly so, Miss Maria," Teague agreed. Maria was able to work up a smile for him as the longboat was lowered for her and the captain to get in, and then be lowered down along the _Troubadour_ 's hull to the water. Maria set the little boat on its side while she fished out the tinderbox, but when Teague reached out to raise the boat up she flailed.

"No, don't touch it!" she insisted. "You're gonna mess up the magic, cap'n! Sir. I mean."

"Magic, eh?" Teague asked as he pulled his hand away. "What kind of magic? Somethin' you learned back in Shipwreck?"

"It's what Mama did with the one she sent into the cove," Maria explained as she settled the boat upright and held it steady while she got the tinderbox. "There's charms carved on the wood, s'posed to find Papa's spirit and help him find his way. Keep him safe."

"Ah," Teague murmured, though he didn't ask any more questions Maria wasn't sure he approved or not. Sometimes Captain Teague was hard to guess like that.

Maria managed to get the candle lit and carefully picked up the boat before standing. Teague held the boat steady as Maria careful scooted to the open side of the longboat, then leaned over to set the little boat onto the waves. She gave it a tiny push with her hands and puffed into the boat's sail before letting it go. It bobbed along, almost as if on a current, straight on for the cave shrouded by those mists. Maria sat back down so she didn't fall into the water, but folded her hands together to duck her head and pray.

" _Be at peace, Papa, wherever you are_ ," she muttered in Spanish. " _I never knew you but I will always remember you._ "

Maria lifted her head and watched the little boat until she couldn't see the candle anymore.


	10. 10: Reminders from the Past

Maria wasn't comfortable sleeping in tight quarters with so many men, and after her discussion with Barbossa she settled on the aft chase deck as best she could. Her mind spun too much with thought: the Trident, Jack Sparrow, Barbossa, her _Falcon_. Such an anxious mind lulled her into a troubled sleep.

Maria was certain she was dreaming when she found herself on the _Silent Mary_ 's deck - but not the ruined vessel she was upon. The crew was alive and well, sharp and smart in black and gray uniforms as they shouted orders and affirmations, as cannons thundered on all sides on the ships surrounding the _Mary_. Maria turned in place, counting the black flags and just making out four still sailing, six flaming and sinking. Ten pirates against one Spanish ship of the line.

"Hit them below the water line!" a voice without the gravelly, salted tone Maria was familiar with commanded briskly. " _Ai ai, vamos_!"

Maria turned to spot the _Silent Mary_ 's captain as he clapped twice in encouragement. Her breath caught as she recognized the features - not just from the dead and burned face she knew, but the faint smirk of pride on his lips, the arch of his brows. Those Maria knew because they were _hers_. She even knew the white-and-black coat he wore, down to the shining silver epaulettes on his shoulders. Her father, Armando Salazar, whole and alive, paced down the deck as he watched the battle, Lesaro two steps behind.

Three more ships began to burn under the _Mary_ 's constant gunfire, and Maria was able to climb up to the gallery, close to Salazar as he, Lesaro, and three squads of Spanish marines armed with rifles lined up on the starboard side. Down below, clinging to scraps of their ships and one even raising a white flag of surrender, were handfuls of pirates begging for rescue - willing to surrender themselves to their enemy to avoid a painful death of exposure on the waves.

Maria knew what Salazar would order even as Lesaro turned to him.

"They are asking for mercy," Lesaro said quietly as Salazar rubbed an apple clean on his sleeve. Maria swallowed hard as she shook her head, begging him even though she knew this dream or vision would not change anything.

"Mercy?" Salazar asked with a strange sort of warmth in his eyes as he looked down to the pirates, then back to Lesaro to smirk. "There is no mercy."

He turned away to descend back to the main deck, biting into his apple and humming with a cheer that turned Maria's stomach. She watched Lesaro, though, saw uncertainty and discomfort flicker in his good eye before he gave the order. Maria would have sworn she heard the darker version of her father's voice hiss ' _¡adios!'_ as the marines fired on the helpless pirates.

No wonder her mama had never told Maria the broader truth of the man her father had been.

Yet as Maria followed Lesaro up to the wheel, where Salazar was exulting in his victory, she sensed a change in the wind. A flare of _defiance_ and simple freedom-craving _joy_. She looked before a boy's voice from the final surviving pirate ship emerging from the smoke on the _Mary_ 's port-aft called out, "'Ey capi-tane! Lovely day for a sail, innit?!"

"Jack Sparrow," Maria breathed, recognizing that voice from their one conversation, after the war against the East India Trading Company. Salazar turned in surprise to hear the voice, waving for his spyglass to find Sparrow. Maria focused on the ship and recognized her shape even if the name on her stern was wrong: the _Black Pearl_.

"How's about this then!" Sparrow-to-be called out again. "Seeing as we're the last two standing and all! If you surrender now, I shall let you live, eh? I shall _let you live_!"

He laughed brightly before descending from the nest, hoisting the _Pearl_ 's colors and the last of the pirates shouting in proud defiance. By contrast, Maria heard Salazar snap the spyglass shut irritably before ordering the _Mary_ after the pirates.

"No, Papa, remember Mama, don't," Maria insisted, even if this was all a dream brought on by being outside of the protection of the cabin. "Papa, _por favor_ , don't!"

Yet the _Silent Mary_ came about to chase the _Black Pearl_ -to-be. Maria turned away from watching the chase to look at her father, seeing the sheer anger and wounded pride filling him. Even though another of the sailors was steering, Salazar stayed close to the rail, his grip white-knuckled around the spyglass - the same one he had given to her. One thumb traced over the brass, near a seal of some sort, but he did not move his gaze from where the _Pearl_ led the _Mary_.

Right towards a familiar mist-shrouded cave surrounded by jagged rocks.

" _Dios_ ," Maria breathed as she at last registered consciously what she was witnessing. This was her father's final battle, what had hurled him into the pit of the Devil's Triangle and stopped him from returning to Maria's mother. She turned to the vision and bit her lip. "Papa, _please_. Don't let your pride do this! Please, Papa, for Mama's sake!"

 _Hear me where you are_ , she silently added, knowing he would not hear her in the dream. _Mercy, Papa. Mercy._

Maria wanted to wake herself but could only watch as the _Pearl_ bootlegged her turn away from the mouth of the Triangle and the _Mary_ had no choice but to keep sailing straight on. She couldn't look away from the darkened cave that she knew only from the outside - and watched it loom closer until it swallowed the _Silent Mary_. Salazar had grabbed onto the wheel even as the _Mary_ ran aground, unnatural red light glowing from her belly as her keel and hull were ripped to shreds. Her powder magazines began to erupt, and the screams of dying sailors filled the cave.

"No, Papa, _no_!" Maria screamed as Salazar abandoned the wheel, running for the side. A boom swung up behind him, faster than he could leap over the rail, and smashed into his skull as another powder magazine exploded behind him, searing his back and burning the coat Maria's mama had admired. The swirling red spirits in the water curled and hissed as the _Mary_ crumbled and burned, before they spun right for Salazar's corpse.

 _"NO!"_

Maria jerked awake with a yell, shaking as sunlight began to peek into the _Mary_ 's shattered holds. It took a few moments for the snarling red light in her mind to fade as Maria sat up and pressed her palms over her face. Tears were stinging her eyes and it was hard to breathe.

The spyglass - her father's spyglass - rolled into her leg, and Maria lowered her hands before picking it up. She would have checked for the symbol she'd seen in the dream but Maria could hear orders being barked up above; Barbossa must have gotten them to Sparrow.

"This must end," Maria breathed as she tucked the spyglass into a coat pocket and got to her feet. She was only able to climb up to the next deck up before Lesaro's voice cut over the air and a handful of ghost sailors began to ascend. Maria smelled the dead sharks before seeing them, and watched as the sailors began to heft them from their hooks and dragging them to holes in the port hull. Maria kept to starboard as the sharks were tossed overboard, but one of the sailors paused from returning up to the top deck, eyes darting to Maria. Rather than ascending, though, he rushed towards her.

" _Miss Maria, he has found Sparrow_ ," he hissed in rapid Spanish. " _You have to go, you are not safe if he does not catch Sparrow!_ "

" _Where do I go?"_ Maria asked, even as the sailor shoved her towards a gun hole without gun or cover. " _And what will happen if he decides to hunt me instead of Sparrow?"_

" _Get to land and stay on land, miss,_ " the sailor pressed before he crouched and pointed off into the distance. Not too far - certainly a coverable distance swimming - was the _Falcon_ , waiting for her. " _Go! Before his hounds decide to hunt other prey!_ "

Maria didn't dare question him further before toppling out into the water. Swimming in any shark's territory was a dangerous prospect; all she could do now was strike out and pray her father's hate would keep focused on Sparrow, and not spread to her. Maria surfaced from her haphazard dive and began to swim, even weighed down with her equipment, towards her hunting bird. She kept going even as she heard the shrieking of the _Mary_ 's crew over the water - she couldn't stop to see if they could reach their quarry - and even as her back ached from the strain and her kicks grew weaker.

"Maria! _Capitan!_ "

Rafael's voice.

Maria grit her teeth and summoned her last ounce of speed and strength until her hands touched the familiar hull of the _Falcon_. She gasped in relief before scrabbling for the nearest handholds and starting the climb up to the deck. Warm living hands grabbed at her as she reached the rail, and Maria collapsed onto the deck of her ship at last, nearly crying in relief as Jozefo knelt down beside her and grinned at her. The rest of her crew surrounded her in worry that soon spread into a resounding cheer as they saw their captain had survived her ordeals with the dead.

"Little Maria, you try too hard to worry me," Jozefo teased as he smoothed back her hair.

"You know me too well, _tio_ ," Maria coughed, managing a smile. "Rafael, get moving, around the island and away from the _Silent Mary_. I…need a rest before we dive back into this mess."

"Aye, captain!" Rafael called, and Maria nearly passed out there on the deck from sheer exhaustion. She held onto consciousness long enough for Jozefo to carry her to her cabin - _her_ cabin, with her hammock and desk and maps - and gently lay her down. Only then did Maria close her eyes to rest dreamlessly.


	11. 11: Omens For Tomorrow

**A/N: ACK I forgot to post this on Friday! Here, I can make up for it with two chapters for today!**

Maria ended up sleeping for most of the day, and woke in the comfort of her hammock, in her cabin, on her ship. For a few long moments she thought everything that had happened - the _Silent Mary_ , Barbossa, all of it - had been a horribly detailed dream. Only the soreness of her limbs from her swim from the _Mary_ to the _Falcon_ , plus the weight of Salazar's spyglass in her pocket, confirmed to Maria it was no dream. Nevertheless she swung out of her hammock onto her feet and approached her desk. The map of the Caribbean was still there, the Triangle still circled with the dated routes passing by. Maria took the time to update the map, this time with her stay on the _Mary_ noted and a few rough attempts at tracing her course.

Only after about an hour working on that did Maria fish out the spyglass from her pocket. Although stained by a long time without polishing and being held by a crew of ghosts, Maria sensed nothing of the _Mary_ 's curse on it. Turning it over in her hands revealed the mark on it that Maria had spotted in the vision of the _Mary_ 's final sail, and Maria slowly passed her thumb over it.

A soft _click_ sounded just inside the plating as her thumb slid back part of the seal.

Maria froze, eyes widening as she gently slid open a compartment on the case. The interior was of waterproofed leather, normally to protect the lenses from being waterlogged, but whoever had crafted this spyglass had ensured that space could be used. A folded piece of paper was tucked inside, and Maria sat down on a chair to gently pry it free. Only one edge of the paper was damaged, as if burned so slightly from flames. Maria set aside the open spyglass and gently smoothed the paper; there was writing on the interior in a quick hand she could only guess was her father's. Maria had to compose herself before opening the paper, smoothing it again before she began to read.

 _Dearest Rebeca_ , it began in Spanish:

 _On the morrow I face one final challenge: the last ten pirate ships known to be active on the sea. The others have all gone to ground in fear; as much as I would desire to burn them out of their bolt-holes like the infestation they are, I can leave it to lesser men. So close to the end of this campaign and all I can think of is returning to you._

 _I know I am not an easy man to love; many a lady has tried but none reached into my soul as you did. It is as if I am two men in one body since I left your side. For you, when this is done, I will no longer be 'the butcher of the sea'. For you, I will face the scorn of my peers and free you, and wed you - if that is your desire as it is mine._

 _Tomorrow, I face one last battle. The day after it, I am yours._

 _Your beloved,_

 _Armando_

Maria felt her throat close as she read the letter, over and over. As she found a weight to hold down the top of the letter, she saw that the burned part only covered the bottom edge of the letter. Maria shifted her hands to find roughly-scrawled words in English, only barely similar to the fine masculine hand above.

 _FORGIVE ME MARIA._

"…papa," she breathed as she stared at the plea.

A knock on her cabin door jerked Maria from the sudden crash of emotion inside her heart, and she just managed to swallow back the lump before going to the door. Rafael was there as she opened it, and he dipped his head briefly in greeting.

"…may I come in?" he asked. "I - I'll understand if you don't want to see anyone, of course -"

"Right now, the sight of the living is far more welcoming than being alone," Maria answered before Rafael could finish. She stepped out of the doorway so he could limp inside, and Maria made sure a chair was ready for him so he could sit. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Just…a lot's happened," Rafael began once he sat, stretching out his bad leg and rubbing out his knee. "And I wanted to say…say that you can count on me. All of the crew, that is, whatever you decide to do. We're with you."

"You're with me, Rafael," Maria replied, smiling faintly as she leaned against her table near him. "That matters just as much. What would I be without the best helmsman in the Caribbean, hm? Just because I give the order does not mean this bird just goes."

"That - that's not what I - I mean, just…"

"Just?"

Rafael grumbled, looking away and rolling his crutch between his hands slowly in thought. Maria waited for him, unsure what he was trying to say.

"You have…made me who I am, Maria," Rafael murmured eventually. "If you hadn't come on that ship, freed me, I - I would be dead now. I know this."

"Is this about your letter?" Maria asked. "About the witch Barbossa dragged you to see?"

Rafael visibly shuddered at the thought of her.

"…I don't want to lose you, Maria," he breathed. "If it means you might die, I could not live with that. I _can't_."

Maria straightened before crouching in front of Rafael, meeting his frightened black eyes before resting her hands over his, around his crutch.

"…you will not lose me, Rafael," Maria whispered. "My place is with the living. Not the dead. And if I am given that choice, I will always choose to live."

The worried light in his eyes faded as Rafael managed to smile at her, and Maria returned it with a grin of her own. As much as Maria might have wanted to save her father, if she had to choose between him and her crew, the choice was clear. Her crew came first. Her father was an important link to what she was, and what she could have been, but what ifs and might-have-beens didn't negate that he _had_ died - and that everything that could have been had he not was an impossibility. A chance to free him of his curse, however…. That would be difficult. But there was no gracious hint or obvious ability for it to be done - except the Trident.

 _Later. I will think of that later. For now, my crew. That matters._

"What will we do now?" Rafael asked after a few moments of silence. "You're back, but the _Silent Mary_ …that's not something I'm looking forward to."

"Barbossa holds no oath from me," Maria replied, gently releasing his hands and standing straight. "If Sparrow is his goal, and then the Trident after that, he will want a ship."

"Could he take the _Falcon_?"

"Not unless he can walk on water or somehow has powder that fires even when wet. He will _not_ take my hunting bird from me. From any of us."

"He might just; there's no ships other than us and the _Mary_ near the island," Rafael pointed out. "Unless there's a ship hiding on the other side Barbossa knows about. Wouldn't surprise me at this point."

"Then we'd better get back out there, mm?" Maria suggested, extending her hand to Rafael. "Wouldn't do for us to miss anything at this juncture, no?"

Rafael chuckled as he took her hand, and Maria held Rafael steady as he rose to his feet and settled his crutch under his arm. Unlike the rest of her crew, Rafael's grip wasn't calloused from months with ropes and wood splinters, though the skin of his palm was tough from his years working sugarcane plantations before his liberation. Maria squeezed his fingers gently, and Rafael returned it in reassurance before he slipped his hand from hers. He left first, allowing Maria a chance to pick up her father's spyglass and close it before she followed up to the quarterdeck.

" _Captaine_ , looks like a couple masts comin' up near the starboard ahead," Luciano reported as he handed the wheel over to Rafael. "Weren't there 'bout a quarter-hour back."

"That can't mean anything good," Maria muttered as she looked out that way. A topsail was clearly visible over the trees separating the _Falcon_ from the other ship - a black topsail. "Barbossa?"

"Him or Sparrow - or both!" Luciano suggested.

"Raise colors, just in case," Maria ordered. "If it is them, they should know we stand with them. No signs of the _Silent Mary_?"

"None yet," Luciano answered before shouting for the colors to be run up. Maria sighed; all they could do was hope this new ship wasn't a fresh enemy.

As the _Falcon_ 's colors went up and she came around the base of the island, Maria couldn't help her jaw going slack. Bobbing on the water, blackened hull and black sails just as they had been when Maria saw her dueling the _Flying Dutchman_ , was the _Black Pearl_. The _Falcon_ was just close enough that Maria could hear shouts of greeting from the _Pearl_ 's deck before her own colors went up in answer: a black field featuring a white skull and two crossed sabers. Barbossa was in command, then; if Sparrow was around, he was likely in the brig.

"Bring in sail, let's wait for her!" Maria shouted. "I'm sure Captain Barbossa will want to see how we've fared."

A chorus of ayes sounded as the sails were brought in, and Maria watched as the _Pearl_ came into the wind and sailed towards them. Maria could just make out someone tied to the foremast with a familiar red bandanna around his head as _Pearl_ and _Falcon_ drew alongside, and Maria found Barbossa smirking at her as the _Pearl_ 's sails were hauled in for the time being.

"I see ye took a chance'f your own, Miss Salazar!" Barbossa called to her from the _Pearl_ 's quarterdeck. "Will ye be sharin' our course, then?"

"Aye, _capitan_ , that is my thinking," Maria shouted back. "Safer to sail together than separately for the time being, I think."

"Can your bird keep apace?"

"We shall find out, won't we?"

Maria heard Barbossa laugh, loud and booming, and couldn't help a fierce grin of her own.

"Drop sail, follow the _Pearl_!" she roared to her crew. " _¡Vamanos!_ Before the dead track us down again!"

Similar orders were called aboard the _Pearl_ , and it wasn't long before the two ships ventured out into the open sea, the _Falcon_ staying within shouting range of the _Black Pearl_ as the sun dipped beneath the horizon.


	12. Interlude: Of Pirates and Blood

Gone. The pirates were _gone_. That devil Barbossa had _used_ him, this was why one could never trust a _pirate_ \- and now Barbossa and Sparrow were on the run, chasing a _legend_ as if that would protect them from him! They would not be hard to follow, not with the _Silent Mary_.

It was the second ship that, under the hate and hunger and rage, made Armando Salazar uneasy. The few scraps of the man he had been did not want to find the _Falcon_ again. Find her alongside Sparrow and Barbossa when his rage would be at its peak, when his power would not be denied.

 _Maria_.

Her name crawled over his skin like a chill, clenching whatever was left of his long-dead heart. Salazar ground his teeth and snarled, the black liquid that had replaced his living blood gushing between his teeth and over his chin. He felt the divide inside him, the hatred fueled by the unnatural demon that the _Mary_ had awoken against the specks of the man he had been in life. Specks that had slowly knit together with those little boats, as each one bobbed into the Triangle and so quietly reached him.

Salazar ignored the pricks of starlight beginning to light the sky as he left the _Mary_ 's course to Lesaro - he would have control when they found Sparrow - and limped in silent agony to the door of his cabin. A door he could no longer cross in safety, but one he had to see. Just inside the frame he could count the boards, one from nearly each little boat that had been lifted to the _Mary_ 's deck, and when he squinted he could see the symbols carved on them.

The constant ones he had ripped apart because of the feelings they woke in him, though the _Mary_ somehow preserved one board to add to his cabin. Salazar watched the boards and felt the heat of life - a life well-lived, a life worth the living - in the air above them. Invisible flames he, being dead, could not pass. The very first he had saved, casting it back into the water when they were free. That one…that one was different. There had been innocence in it, something…pure.

 _Where is it now_ , he thought with a scowl at the boards. _Where is that innocence? It was destroyed, by pirates, as they ruin everything._

Unless, if Salazar dwelled on it, she had not been consumed by the infection of piracy. The warmth of her fire on the main deck as she spoke with the crew, her foolhardy exploration of the mainmast, the kindness she had given to Barbossa's pirates - that was from her mother, Salazar knew, something that hadn't been lost when a filthy pirate took his child aboard ship. Something that had endured her own piracy.

 _She is one of them. She will die after the Sparrow, like all the others. They cannot hide now, cannot run._

But she was his child. Salazar could feel it in his bones, had seen the boat in her hand when the _Mary_ had first come upon the small brig. There had been no one following him or Rebeca that night, _that night_. The color of her eyes was Rebeca's but their shape was his, his smile tucked across Rebeca's mouth.

His _child_. Had he become such a monster that he would consider killing his _child_? Yes, perhaps he would have killed her had she not displayed the boat, but had she been the one survivor…

 _A pirate. My daughter._

 _End her. Save her. By my hand. From me._

Rage at his indecision granted Salazar a swell of power, and he howled before slashing his sword across the doorframe. The blade did no damage to the wood, nearly bouncing back in his face, and the attack did nothing to soothe him. Only blood and ending Jack Sparrow could do that. For that chance alone he would kill any pirate he had to.

Any pirate.


	13. 13: Down Among the Dead Men

"Redcoats!" the _Pearl_ 's watchman shouted deep in the night; Maria was willing to stay up on this late watch if only to enjoy the quiet that had now been broken. "Redcoats, starboard aft!"

" _Ai,_ wake up!" Maria roared, stomping on the quarterdeck before spinning the wheel to turn the _Falcon_ to port, then quickly back to starboard. The motion would be sharp enough to shake most of her men from sleep. "British Navy, on the attack, cannons ready!"

She stomped again as the hatches burst open, spilling out her crew as they ran to their positions, loading cannon. A galleon like the _Pearl_ as well as the _Falcon_ would be a steady match for the approaching British vessel, Maria estimated. Time might not be on their side, but at the very least driving it off would help.

"Luciano, _tio_!" Maria barked as she spotted Luciano scrambling up onto the deck, Jozefo not far behind. "Get men onto the lines, ready to work sails!"

"Aye!" Luciano shouted in agreement as he ran to collect men to climb up the ratlines. Jozefo ducked back below and more came running. Rafael limped out after that rush, and with his best speed Rafael came up to the wheel.

"Haul in canvas; Rafael, take us to the _Pearl_ 's starboard," Maria ordered as she handed the wheel to him. "Not immediately between, I'd rather not be crushed if she gets close enough to board!"

" _Si, capitan!_ " Rafael affirmed, bringing the _Falcon_ about as the sails were gathered. Yes, the _Falcon_ would lose valuable speed to the _Pearl_ , but she had enough momentum to dance. The British ship was beginning to move after them, and Maria descended to the main deck, opening her spyglass to try and get an idea of what they were up against. As she did, Maria spotted a flare of lightning in the sky - lightning that was not followed by any apparent thunder.

"…sails, drop sails, _now_!" Maria snapped as she collapsed the spyglass, moments before the British ship burst into flame. Riding over the wreckage, her exposed ribs closing back in as she resumed her course, was the _Silent Mary_ , coming at full speed towards the _Black Pearl_. "Drop all the canvas, _bastardes_ , or we may all be dead!"

Her curse was backed up by Luciano's berations above and Jozefo's calumnies below. Maria reached the starboard rail in two strides, grabbing the railing tight as she felt the _Mary_ 's pure, boiling hatred. There would be no mercy for the _Falcon_ this time. The brig's sails filled with the unnatural wind preceding the _Mary_ , and the _Falcon_ darted forward such that bowsprit just came even to the _Pearl_ 's stern. The other ship was bustling with panicked activity, and Maria could hear Barbossa's strident voice relaying orders.

 _Think, Maria, think!_

The _Mary_ 's current course would bring her alongside the _Pearl_ 's starboard, cutting off the _Falcon_ only if they were lucky. The _Falcon_ could not match either ship for speed despite her smaller size, but maneuverability….

"Rafael!" Maria shouted, turning up to the quarterdeck. "Hard starboard! Take us out behind the _Mary_ , then dive back in to port!"

She barely heard Rafael's affirmation before she dropped her head through the nearest hatch, the gunners racing to load their guns. The ones to starboard were nearly done, with the port guns only starting to be loaded.

 _Wrong sides, you fools!_

"What in hell do you _idiots_ think you are doing?!" Maria shouted into the hold. "Port guns ready, unload starboard if you have to! We're diving port!"

Jozefo's booming voice repeated the direction as Maria stood and signaled for the sails to be adjusted for the diving strafe. She felt the _Falcon_ begin her ascent, the _Mary_ coming into her fore and passing to port. Maria couldn't help a fierce grin as the _Mary_ closed at speed on the _Pearl_ , signaling Rafael to begin the dive with a flick of her wrist. The _Falcon_ began to turn, fore sails shifting to catch the crosswind as she dived towards the _Mary_ 's starboard side. Maria drew her sword as the bustling below grew still; the only sound of their approach was the hissing of the ocean as the _Falcon_ 's prow cut over the waves. The _Mary_ 's crew had boarded the _Pearl_ , she could see and hear the clash of steel. Now it was time to show her father what she could do.

As Rafael turned the _Falcon_ bring her along the _Mary_ 's starboard side, Maria rapped her heel into the deck. Were the crew not so still, none of them would have heard it. As it was, the _Falcon_ 's port guns thundered and smoked at that hard rap, splintering into the _Mary_ 's hull with little effect.

It wasn't about sinking the ghost ship; it was about drawing attention off the _Pearl_ 's crew for just long enough. It didn't help that the _Mary_ swung out and scraped at the _Falcon_ , though Maria just managed to keep herself from falling on her ass.

"Boarders ready!" Maria yelled once she was steady on the deck, the _Falcon_ 's course holding true along the _Mary_ 's and her voice summoning a handful of extra gunners from below and another from the ratlines as she sheathed her sword. "Full arms!"

She was one of the first to grab a rappelling line and cast the hook for the _Mary_. Maria made sure to tie off the end of the rope to the _Falcon_ \- that would help the _Falcon_ maintain speed without relying on the wind - before climbing hand over hand right to the _Mary_. The other boarders from the _Falcon_ followed, drawing their weapons as they rushed the ghost crew still aboard.

"Fight to survive, not kill!" Maria barked when the first of her sailors fell, and she drew her sword to block a startled slash in her direction. The Spaniard started back in surprise when he saw her, and very nearly dropped his sword when he recognized her.

" _Miss Maria?!_ " he asked in shocked Spanish. " _Why didn't you go to safety?! Why are you here?"_

"Because my father cannot triumph," Maria insisted. "Killing Sparrow won't break your curse! The Triangle has imprisoned you all and is devouring what little of him is left!"

She just caught the flicker of another ghostly Spaniard lunging at her from the side, but Maria just dodged away before the second one hesitated as well.

"…help me!" Maria pressed. "I cannot promise to free you but I can promise to _try_!"

Maria danced away from the sailors, just managing to reach the _Mary_ 's port rail. Maria would have glanced down if a cacophonous splintering hadn't caught her attention. She looked up and stared as the raging malice coursing through the _Mary_ took form: the _Mary_ 's figurehead itself, armed and staring down into the gap between the _Pearl_ and its mounting.

" _…down there, fighting Sparrow!_ " the first Spaniard said behind Maria; she turned to find his sword lowered, watching her hopefully. " _Please, end this torment!"_

Maria could only nod before swinging herself over the _Mary_ 's starboard rail, just managing to land on one of her cannons before the living figurehead stabbed down towards a yelping figure in a long dark coat with a tricorn hat. Between him and Maria was Salazar himself, cackling at having his nemesis pinned so.

"No!" Maria barked as she began running forward, keeping her steps as light and quick as she could on the cannons as she dropped down towards Salazar. The _Mary_ dipped close to the _Pearl_ again, giving Maria extra steps as she slashed down at Salazar. Although her sword drew no blood he spat, and Maria kept her blade up as he turned and stared in hot rage.

"…not today, Papa," Maria hissed. He responded in a roar, swinging his blade towards her but Maria dodged by hopping to another cannon. Salazar chased after her, their steel ringing against each other as they shifted up and down along the sides of the _Pearl_ and _Mary._

Maria landed on one of the _Mary_ 's cannons as the two larger ships closed on each other again, and started at the yelp on her left. Maria turned to find the face of Jack Sparrow, wide-eyed and dripping wet, staring at her in a mix of unease and disgruntled surprise.

"…and who the blazes are you?" he asked anyway.

"Lucky for you, someone interested in keeping you alive."

"Oh! Good! Need that. Move!"

Maria heard the splintering of wood overhead and jump-stepped to one of the _Pearl_ 's cannons before Jack kicked the barrel of her previous support up. It fired into the face of the _Mary_ 's figurehead, sending it reeling back.

"Forward!" Maria insisted as she jumped back over onto the _Mary_ , Sparrow close behind. Maria turned once she was stable and had her back pressed along the _Mary_ 's hull, and just barely brought her sword up to block a cut from her father, twisting into a hole in the _Mary_ 's hull to escape. She would have gotten to her feet if Jack hadn't landed on top of her, though he rolled off her quick enough to avoid the figurehead stabbing at them again.

"…that's not a repeat experience, now, is it?" Jack groaned as Maria pushed herself up.

"Assuredly not," Maria agreed, reaching her free hand down to Jack to help him stand. "Come on, we have to move before he reappears."

"How soon's that going to be?" Jack asked as he followed her towards the stairs that would lead to the top deck. Maria would have answered if pain didn't explode in her jaw, sending her reeling back to the floor.

"Now," Salazar hissed over her before he lunged at Sparrow. Maria groaned as she tried to gather in her limbs and get to her feet; the lightning flashes from the storm above the _Mary_ were disorienting at worst, but Maria did her best to ignore it. She more heard than saw her father disarm Jack, the pirate on his back as he landed on the floor.

 _Not today!_

Maria mustered up a shout as she staggered to her feet, lunging such that her blade caught Salazar's and forcing it away from Jack. Maria heard Salazar snarl in frustration, but she took up a defensive stance a few steps from Jack's head.

"Move, girl," Salazar spat at her.

"No."

"You would die for _him_? The man that took _everything_ from me?!"

"…yes."

"Oh, good," Jack muttered beneath them. "All the people of their word again."

"I know you are better than this," Maria pressed, ignoring Jack starting to sit up and keeping Salazar's attention fixed on her. "I _know_ you are!"

Salazar's eyes flickered, the demonic rage burning within but something deeper, beneath it, struggling, heard her words and tried to reach out to her. He stepped back, almost awkwardly, and half-turned from Maria as whatever part of his soul remained tried to fight.

That was when Jack muttered, "The island!"

Maria leaned around her father's figure the same time he turned; both saw, from the faint light of dawn, the silhouette of land closing rapidly.

"Go, Sparrow, go!" Maria barked as Sparrow rolled out from between them and scrambled to his feet. Maria turned in the opposite direction, where she could see the lashed _Falcon_ along the _Mary_ 's starboard hull, and as she sprinted for the nearest opening she heard Salazar - or the demon possessing him - shriek in unholy rage. Maria managed to catch onto the _Falcon_ 's port rail and swung herself onto the foredeck. " _Falcon_ , back to the _Falcon_ if any are still alive!"

Three living men Maria recognized leaped back over the _Mary_ 's side to land safely on the brig, and Maria waved to Rafael at the wheel.

"Hard starboard! All over to starboard!"

"Maria, the lines!" Jozefo boomed from her side as he pointed towards the grappled ropes that were holding the _Mary_ and the _Falcon_ together. She swore and charged for the rail, sword readied to hack through the ropes if she had to.

That was before the _Mary_ plowed in the same direction, and Maria couldn't hold back a startled howl as the _Falcon_ seemed to burst from the force. She staggered back, landing on the deck and quickly covering the back of her head even before Jozefo's protective weight dropped on top of her. The cries of agony and the slow forward tilt of the deck told Maria what she feared, had feared since she had inherited captaincy of the _Falcon_.

Her hunting bird was going down, and her men were dying.

 _Not today_.

Maria pulled herself out from under Jozefo, staggering as she got her feet as steady as possible on the tilting deck before charging for the helm. Rafael was still there, eyes wide with horror as he clung to the wheel.

"Time to go," Maria panted as she caught him around the waist, lifting him off his feet and startling Rafael enough to let go of the wheel. She just managed to get enough breath to shout one final order: "Abandon ship! Into the water if you wish to live!"

Maria stumbled down the steps from the quarterdeck, still toting Rafael as she reached a longboat. Maria started working at the knots one-handedly before one of the other survivors - Luciano, perhaps, she couldn't tell, there was no _time_ \- joined in. As soon as the longboat was flat on the water, Maria placed Rafael and clambered within. A handful of others, including Luciano, got in with her and pushed away from the sinking brig.

"Where -"

"Maria," Luciano said softly to catch her attention. "He saved you."

Her chest clenched, even as the _Mary_ 's cracked ribs began to approach the _Falcon_ 's wreckage. No.

Maria reached down to the pewter charm and felt a single crack in it.

 _No_.

"Row, all of you, row!" Luciano barked, sparing Maria from having to act and do for a brief moment. She felt Rafael move next to her, a hand reaching out to touch her arm, but the shock was still there. Her uncle had given his life for her. His price was paid.

Maria was jerked from her reverie as the ghosts of the _Silent Mary_ fell from the ship's deck, surrounding the survivors of the _Falcon_. She half-rose quickly before Salazar landed at the front of the longboat, propping his boot on the bow even as he stood on the still water surrounding them. He bared a dark smirk at them before his gaze fixed on Maria.

"Already ashamed of my hospitality, eh, girl?" Salazar spat. "You'll not spurn it a second time, I am sure. Take them!"

Two of the _Mary_ 's crew grabbed Maria by the shoulders, and she cursed and twisted to try and break their hold before the two jumped high into the air to dump her onto the deck. The others came with the rest of her men, though when Lesaro landed with Rafael the latter was dropped too quickly. Rafael's agonized screams sent Maria to his side, holding his hand tightly while Luciano checked Rafael's bad knee as it started swelling from the sudden burst of weight.

"Jus' a strain, I think," Luciano breathed. "Gotta keep him off it."

"If we don't all die first," Maria answered coldly. Her ship, her uncle; how much more would this day take from her? "Come on, we need to get him somewhere safe, everyone…"

None of the _Mary_ 's crew prevented Maria leading her surviving men to the cabin, holding the doors open as they filed inside. Luciano and Rafael came last, though Rafael was leaning hard onto Luciano and held his eyes tightly shut against the pained tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

"…what do we do now?" Luciano asked after he had set Rafael on the bed. "Cap'n, tell me you gotta plan."

"…I don't," Maria admitted. "Other than keeping you lot alive. That's all I can do."

The stunned silence following her insistence hurt more than the recent losses. Maria could only shake her head and find a corner. Her crew was her responsibility, and right now that responsibility was keeping them safe.

Whatever the cost.


	14. 14: Broken Waters

It hadn't been ten minutes before rapid knocking sounded on the cabin door. Maria stood to answer, finding one of the _Mary_ 's crew on the threshold as she opened the door. Almost as soon as the door was open he began babbling so quickly Maria had to raise a hand to get him to stop.

"Slowly, start over," she insisted as the ghost wrung his hands.

" _Miss Maria, the captain, he plans to go after Sparrow, on land!"_ the sailor began again. Maria's brows folded in surprise at that.

" _Can he do that_?" Maria asked.

" _Not without…possessing a living body_ ," the sailor replied, and immediately Maria tensed. " _None of your crew! There is a boy he took from Sparrow's ship!_ "

Maria turned to glance at her crew, trying to gauge what she should do. After losing the _Falcon_ and Jozefo both, why should she keep fighting on? Sparrow's fate was no concern of hers, the same as Barbossa; perhaps she should let it happen, let her father kill Sparrow and use the Trident to his own ends.

…but those ends would eventually lead to her own death, sooner or later. And of her surviving crew. Not to mention everyone she knew and held dear that lived in pirate towns that would ultimately fall under the twisted gaze of her father. Even Shipwreck, fortress that it was, would not be able to withstand the _Silent Mary_.

It was Rafael that met her gaze first, nodding to her, followed by a nod from Luciano as Maria looked to him.

"Go, _captaine_ ," Luciano insisted. "Dat boy be an innocent, and dese ghosts will be takin' more like 'im if not stopped."

"Jozefo would want you to go, I - I know it," Rafael added. "Maybe you can't save your father, but there's people that need you, Maria. Go."

Maria exhaled slowly before turning back to the sailor. She had been involved in this ever since she had refused to flinch before the _Silent Mary_ what felt like a lifetime ago. Fate or spirits clearly insisted on her presence when it all ended.

"Take me to him, now," Maria ordered. The Spanish sailor gave her a sharp salute - that was a first - before leading her from aft to fore, where a knot of ghosts including Lesaro watched. Maria saw the black wisps on the air and bolted ahead of her escort with a hand around the pewter charm. Perhaps it was strong enough to reverse possession, perhaps….

"No!" Maria shouted as she reached the foredeck and the wisps vanished into the young man being held by two ghosts. Lesaro looked up at her in relief, stepping back as she rushed forward. Maria pulled the necklace free from her neck, extending her arm to press the charm to the possessed young sailor's arm, but in a blur he had turned to slap Maria's hand away - sending the charm soaring over the rail and into the ocean. Maria's stomach immediately churned as the young man - no, her father's host, her father - gripped her jaw in one hand and glared viciously into her eyes. The captive from the _Black Pearl_ was handsome in a young sort of way, with his large dark eyes and straight brown hair. Whatever kindness had naturally been in his features was gone, and it was Salazar that smiled like a predator to trapped prey.

"I will end this," Salazar hissed - his voice echoing into the boy's, snarling Spaniard and proper English clashing - before he pushed her away. "Don't stand against me, Maria. I will have to kill you otherwise."

Maria was too stunned from losing her necklace that, had it not been for one of the ghosts that had held the boy, she would have tumbled down the steps below the quarterdeck. By the time Maria had recovered, Salazar had vaulted over the rail and was starting for the island - glowing with gemstones in the dawn light, a sight that would normally have stopped Maria in awe and wonder.

"I am sorry, _senorita_ , I tried to slow him so you could prevent this," Lesaro apologized once Maria was back on her feet. "I think he has gone mad for the vengeance he craves."

"Then someone has to stop him before that madness takes hold," Maria replied, but something dawned on her as she looked at Lesaro. "…you heard what I said during the battle."

" _Si, senorita_ ," Lesaro answered, straightening slowly. "Of everything that could be done to end this…this existence, it is you I believe. That…we believe."

Maria started just a little as the ghosts forming the _Silent Mary_ 's crew appeared around her. They didn't stand there to frighten or intimidate her, but Maria recognized many of their stances. She had seen it in the slave ships she had freed over her career, in the eyes of the men and women and children that had been held in chains. So, too, were these souls enslaved - to this ship, to her captain even as the powers enslaving him as well drove him mad.

"…I will do what I can, but you must help me in return," Maria began. She would have continued if a tremor hadn't shaken the ship, and a shout from a lookout directed their attention to one of the lights on the island and a chasm within the sea itself opening. That was most assuredly Sparrow's doing, Maria was certain.

"That's where I need to go," Maria continued, "but I will need a way out if something goes wrong - and men to watch my back without raising his attention."

"Myself and some others will go, under the water," Lesaro suggested, "while you enter there."

"Does either anchor still work?"

"… _si,_ I see what you suggest!" Lesaro realized, grinning slowly. "If your own men assist, we can be in position. Now, go, _capitan_. Do what you can."

Maria blinked at the title, the silent mutiny that had just occurred. She had no time to question it, even as one sailor - only a hat and a hand, of what was left of him - offered her a sword to replace the one she had lost, a fine military blade. Maria slid it under her belt before she threw herself over the rail, landing in the water and easily getting to shore. Most fortunate was that her charm had been tossed up onto the shore, and Maria made sure to snatch it, tying it around the hilt of her new blade before bolting for the sheer break in the sea. There was no sign of the possessed boy, Sparrow, or Barbossa as Maria vaulted over gemstones and mist and rock, reaching the chasm's opening and sending herself skidding down the fine black sand below.

There were strong spirits in the place where she landed, so strong that Maria felt her head swimming as her slide came to an abrupt stop. Maria had to pick herself up and keep moving, past coral reefs and wrecked ships that had fossilized into arched formations. Her sense of spirits grew stronger, _stronger_ , until she sighted Sparrow and a young woman in a pinkish dress.

"Sparrow!" Maria called out as she vaulted over one final formation, drawing her sword as she landed. "Where is the Trident?! There is no time!"

"It's just there!" the woman insisted, pointing to a gnarled stick with three prongs.

"Then get it, hurry!" Maria pressed.

"What's the rush, luv?" Jack asked as the woman began to climb, skirts in hand. Despite the light tone in his voice Maria recognized cold calculation in his eyes. He noted her sword drawn and readied his as well. "Blades out already? Must not be good."

"My father's coming, and I'd rather lose him a second time than watch him burn everything I know," Maria answered as she turned back the way she had come, shoulder to shoulder with Jack.

"What is it with Spanish women and their fathers, this's a trend I am not enjoying," Jack grumbled as Maria sighted a figure bolting right for them.

"We discuss that later, _si_ , here he comes!"

"That? The whelp of the whelp?!"

A bursting roar of Jack's name was paired with the leaping shape of Salazar's host. Jack started back in some surprise, but Maria lunged forward to meet Salazar's descent. Her blade clashed with his before driving her shoulder into his gut, hurling him into the ground before retreating yet readied for another attack. Salazar chuckled dryly as he rose to his feet, but he didn't get a chance to react to Maria's defense as Jack swept towards Salazar's side with a low slash. Salazar jumped easily over Jack's sword before he stepped back with a feral grin, sword raised for a high lunge.

"Now now, you are being rude," Salazar snickered, the double-echo of his voice making Maria uneasy. "Unless you are so determined to die along with him, eh?"

"Papa, what you seek will not free you," Maria countered, even as the three of them began circling. "Sparrow, the Trident; these won't end your curse. I don't know what can but I will _try_. But I will not let you sit in that boy's body, or murder Sparrow, or let your rage fuel the monster that has possessed you!"

"Besides, what purpose does killin' me serve, ey?" Jack added, instantly drawing Salazar's attention from Maria. "Other'n soothe your wounded pride. You're still dead, mate."

"Then you can join me!" Salazar growled before lunging towards Jack; he managed to parry, dodging away despite Salazar following him.

"Keep him busy!" Maria tried to advise Jack before climbing up to the young woman and the Trident. "Need help?"

"If you don't mind!" she spat in reply. Maria decided not to argue the tone but moved alongside her to push at the Trident; the damn thing would not budge. Lifting it didn't work either, and when Maria next checked on the duel below Jack had managed to land a glancing blow on Salazar.

"We need something else, he'll die if we can't get this free soon!" Maria barked to the woman, even as she tossed her dark red-brown hair and frowned.

"Lend me your shoulder, will you?" she asked, and Maria ducked slightly to brace her. The woman hefted her skirts in her other hand before kicking sharply at the Trident's base. This time, it budged significantly.

"Once more!" Maria insisted, and her partner kicked out again. This time, the Trident broke free entirely, clattering down the formation. However, the winds shifted down the canyon of water, and Maria staggered from the force before she managed to duck down the side of the rock that had held the Trident to shelter. Maria looked out and found Jack disarmed and on the ground with Salazar bolting for where the Trident had fallen. She could only hope the other woman could collect the Trident before her father got hold of it. Maria scrambled out for Sparrow, picking up his sword and passing it to him quickly.

"Not going well I take it?"

"Bloody well not," Jack agreed as he picked himself up, then ducked behind the cover of a larger rock. "Any insights or are we just going bang at him some more?"

"What, because I am his blood you think I know how to stop him?!"

"Well bugger all of it, then!"

Maria tucked herself against the rock with Jack, but a hard rumble of force - and the sense of some great darkness falling over them - reverberated around them. Maria traded an uncertain look with Jack before, nearly in concert, they straightened to look up over the rock. Maria's eyes widened as she watched the boy fall to the ground, but her father still stood - on dry land, holding the Trident tight and smirking towards them. Maria swallowed at that stare, for the first time terrified of her father.

"Ay, Sparrow," Salazar called softly, still grinning with a vicious cast. " _Hola_ , Sparrow…"

"…this is bad," Maria breathed nervously. "This is _very_ bad."


	15. Memory: Signs and Symbols

**_A Memory - A Raid_** **,** ** _age 15_**

Tiller thought she was soft, Maria knew it. Where her captain decided killing a crew and burning a prize was more practical, Maria ordered only the greatest treasures to be taken and the defeated crew and ship left on their way either for rescue or to limp to safety. Where Tiller would howl and rage at the crew, Maria kept her head cool, her orders even colder - and hers were more often obeyed to the letter than his. And whenever Tiller sighted the Union Jack, it was Maria that had to be holding the wheel or else Tiller's suicidal mania against England would put the _Falcon_ against men-of-war, or, at worse, ships of the line.

That was likely why this Spanish vessel - one of their naval patrols, but a slow, heavy man-of-war without an escort - had been Tiller's next chosen target. Because, as Teague had told Maria when he'd told her of this arrangement, Tiller knew her name, _knew_ what it inspired in other crews - pirates and sailors alike. Maria despised being presented in such a way, as if she were a weapon or prize to be paraded at will.

 _It was Teague that began to forge me, not you,_ Maria thought angrily towards Tiller as she readied with the _Falcon_ 's boarding party to ensure the Spaniards didn't try anything stupid as the pirates took what they pleased. Without a rudder and foremast thanks to the precise strikes Maria had ordered, the Spanish ship was listing without a direction, but for now she was steady enough that the pirates could take her easily.

Maria stepped onto the other ship's deck with her sword at the ready, pistol tucked into the small of her back to be drawn quickly in case of trouble. Rather than busy herself with checking their prize's cargo, Maria focused on watching the Spaniards, pacing slowly where they had been corralled in the initial rush aboard. One sailor, an older man with grays starting to appear in his hair and already kneeling on the deck, looked up at her slowly before he started back, eyes wide in horror. A rosary appeared from inside one of his hands before he clasped them together tightly in prayer.

" _La phantasma!_ " he moaned when Maria paused near him, head tilted in confusion. " _Por favor, no me maten, por favor…_ "

" _I'm no ghost_ ," Maria told him in Spanish, making him start and look up at her again. " _What makes you think so?_ "

The Spanish sailor swallowed hard, flinching slightly as he met her gaze. Maria was more surprised as he answered her in English.

"You…you have _his_ face," he breathed. "The face of _el matador del mar_. Salazar himself."

 _This man knew my papa. He knew my papa!_

Maria sheathed her blade and crouched slowly, careful not to startle him with any quick movements. The sailor stayed equally still, though his hands shook enough to cause his rosary to clink softly.

"…he was my father, yes," Maria told him, voice gentle, "but I am not him. I know mercy. Neither you nor your shipmates will die today. I promise you."

The old sailor scanned her face, as if bracing for her to betray her word, but Maria did not move save to gently fold her hands around his in reassurance. A few moments passed before he relaxed, and Maria released his hands.

"Perhaps there is still true honor to be found on the seas," the sailor sighed, "even among pirates."

" _Si_ , there are some of us left," Maria answered with a faint smile. "Do not trouble yourself so, _senor_ , for we shall be gone soon."

She stood and kept watch as the loot was removed from the ship's holds and transferred over to the _Falcon_ , but before Maria crossed back over the old sailor stopped her, taking one of her hands and gently pouring his rosary into her palm. The chain and crucifix appeared to be tarnished silver, and the beads were pearlescent. Maria was not one for faith - obeah spirits were one thing, but the idea of a god or gods watching over her made her nervous - but for some reason she didn't fight taking it as the old man closed her fingers around it.

"…take it," he pleaded. "To remember who you are - and that you are not _el matador del mar_ , even if it is his blood in your veins."

"… _gracias, senor_ ," Maria murmured, still clutching the rosary in her hand as she stepped aboard the _Falcon_. As the brig dropped sail and moved away, Maria opened her palm and ran her fingers over the beads. For a moment she was tempted to stuff it into a pocket to sell later, or even drop the rosary into the deep. But something about it - some spirit in that reminder - urged Maria to carefully sling it over her head, hanging under her shirt and beneath the warding charm.

She never sold it and never took it off.


	16. 16: Hands Outstretched (1)

"Down!" Maria shouted just as a burst of seawater rushed for the rock she and Jack were sheltering behind, guided by the Trident in Salazar's hands. Maria heard Jack yowling as he was caught by the burst, thrown back a good ten feet before landing on the black sand. Maria would have lunged out if she didn't hear Salazar cackle eagerly. More water crashed from the chasm, slamming into Jack and scooping him off his feet.

 _What do I do?_

Maria kept her back pressed to the rock, the fear that she had denied since her first sighting of the _Silent Mary_ holding her in place. Her right hand gripped her sword tightly, but her left hand reached under her shirt to the rosary from a Spanish sailor - the reminder of who she was _not_.

Maria closed her fingers tightly around the little cross, somehow finding peace in the symbol of a religion she did not follow, did not believe. But the spirit of it, _that_ she could believe.

 _I am not my father._

Salazar's soft but exuberant chuckling as he used the Trident to spin Jack in and out of the water, just over the heads of Lesaro and the others that had come down with him, made Maria's jaw clench tightly in anger. Sparrow she could forgive. It was because of Sparrow that her father had died, yes, but also because of him her mother was free. Because of him Maria had been born free, as well. Sparrow was why Maria could read and write and speak two languages, why she had that sign when Teague had taken her onto the _Troubadour_ and then passed her to Tiller and the _Falcon_ she loved so well. Sparrow was why Maria was here, _now_ , instead of elsewhere.

She gave the little cross one more tight squeeze before letting it go, raising her sword and using the rock to shield her turning towards where Salazar held the Trident, watching Jack before throwing him down into the sand again, then slowly paced towards him.

 _Wait to strike. Wait for the opportune…moment_ , Teague's lessons echoed in the back of her head as Maria raised her sword in a prepared thrust. Jack groaned as he planted his hands onto the sand, pushing himself up slowly.

"As I said," he grumbled, "surrender t'me now and I'll…"

Maria rolled her eyes as Jack trailed off to look up at Salazar and realize what he was about to say and who he was saying it to.

"…let you live?"

 _Now!_

Maria launched forward, cross-stepping to close the distance. In the moments before Jack got to his feet, before Salazar could stab him with the Trident, Maria thrust her sword into her father's back. She kept the motion controlled, accounting for the half-sensation of mass that resisted her attack. Salazar had stiffened in shock as Maria recoiled, withdrawing her blade without even the slightest stain of blood.

"Do I have your attention, _demonio_?" Maria hissed when Salazar turned, staring at her in mingled shock and rage. "If you think Sparrow a worthy opponent, perhaps you should face one shaped by what he has done, eh?"

"You _dare_ ," Salazar snarled, starting to turn from Jack as the demon's ire centered on Maria. "You _dare_ set yourself against me? Now?"

"Yes," Maria answered as she readied herself. _I am not my father_. "Because it seems that nothing else I have done has made it clear to you. I will not let you kill those simply for what they have done with lives they are free to live!"

She thrust again, but as Salazar swept the Trident to parry Maria spun into a feint, slashing through Salazar's exposed side and making him reel in another wave of shock. Maria paced, blood searing in her veins as Salazar turned to face her again with the Trident pointed towards her.

"You can't defeat the dead, Maria," he snarled before lunging at her; Maria caught the prongs with her blade and twisted out of the way. She took the chance to drive her fist into Salazar's jaw as she stepped across his front, but before Maria could edge away Salazar had swung the Trident back, using the shaft to pin her to his chest by her neck. Maria just managed to get her left hand around the coral-like substance, trying to push the Trident from her windpipe, but Salazar was too strong. She gagged weakly as the coral bit into her throat, and Maria flinched as Salazar leaned over her shoulder, shushing her as Maria struggled.

"Ah, child," he murmured, "you should never have let their poison into your heart. Now I have to kill you, too."

"Mama…would be…ashamed," Maria gasped out as she pushed against the Trident. "Ashamed…that you would…let your own evils…consume you like…this…"

Maria felt Salazar's hold slacken, ever so slightly, but it was just enough for Maria to pry herself free and stumble away from her father. She croaked in relief as air filled her chest again, leaned back against a rock before Maria had to cough hoarsely. When she looked up, though, her eyes widened to see the pure hatred in her father's eyes as he raised the Trident in both hands. Maria nearly lost her grip on her sword as Salazar charged her, ready to kill her with the Trident.

 _Mercy, Papa_.

Maria would have closed her eyes to brace for her end, but she started as Jack himself bolted between her and Salazar. The Trident caught him direct above his heart, and Maria just managed to drop out of the way as Salazar drove Jack back into the rock Maria had been leaning against. Yet there was no blood, no indication Jack was actually wounded.

 _Mercy_.

Maria stabbed her sword into the sand and bolted to Jack's side, getting a grip on the Trident with him.

"You are too…damn lucky for your own good, Sparrow," Maria grumbled. "That, or you're too clever."

"Remarkable how those traits coincide," Jack grunted in answer as they both pushed against the Trident. Salazar noticed that there was no injury and bared his teeth in a snarl.

" _You foolish child_ ," he hissed at Maria in Spanish. " _To choose a pirate over your own father…_ "

" _My father is dead,_ " Maria retorted in kind. " _You are just a devil wearing his face_."

Salazar's expression darkened, even as he shifted his grip to attempt finishing Jack. Maria braced herself to help Jack push him away, but far more surprising was Jack turning towards the side Maria wasn't on, towards where the two youngsters - the boy her father had possessed and the girl that Maria had helped free the Trident - were watching the struggle.

"Henry!" Jack shouted, half-command and half-plea.

 _This must end_.

Maria's shoulders ached as she pushed against the Trident, against her father's devilish might, Jack pushing with her. Maria dared glance away from Salazar's twisted expression to find the young man - Henry, as Jack had called him - suddenly charging forward, Jack's sword in hand and raising it high as he leaped the final distance towards them.

Maria was most assuredly not expecting Henry's strike to land on the Trident itself - or shatter it like glass. The hard green-black coral crumbled like dust in Maria's hand, and she pulled Jack away from Salazar as her father stumbled forward, doubled over. Maria shuffled back to get a hold on her sword and pull it from the sand, raised warily. Salazar didn't move, but motion from the sea wall caught Maria's attention: Lesaro, staggering out of the water and coughing. The _Mary_ 's first mate was no longer marbled and ghostly, but living and soaking wet.

"…all curses at sea are broken," Henry said in realization as more of the _Mary_ 's crew staggered into the open air, spluttering and realizing their curse was ended - and they were no longer dead. Maria slowly lowered her sword, daring a few steps closer to where Salazar was bent over, still but shifting, ever so slightly. His hair no longer floated on the air, but hung in long soft waves over his shoulders and neck - much like Maria's hair.

"…papa?" Maria asked, swallowing hard. Salazar stiffened again, but after a few moments he began to turn and straighten - fully straighten, not half-hunched as he had been, placing him head and shoulders taller than her. Instead of the accursed, burned, and scarred face she had come to know, the face from her dream greeted her, dark eyes wide as if truly seeing her for the first time. Salazar's brows folded, as if in disbelief and some faint flicker of hope - and love - as he recognized her.

"…Maria," he breathed - no demonic gravel in his throat, his voice clear and strong. " _Mija_ …"

He reached out to her, one hand first brushing along Maria's cheek - warm, his touch was warm, his palm tanned and roughened like a sailor's, like hers - while his other hand gently cupped her jaw. Maria dropped her sword to grip his wrists, then embrace him tightly. Salazar returned her embrace, even rocking her gently as he held her fast. Around them the _Mary_ 's crew broke into cheers and joyful laughter as the realization of their freedom sank in.

"…we are _free_ ," Salazar murmured gladly, squeezing Maria again as he turned her loose. "Flesh and blood again."

Maria would have responded as she sheathed her sword, but a low rumble and a ripple in the air made her tense as the Spanish sailors continued to celebrate their freedom.

"…something's wrong," Maria made sure to note as the cheering shifted into confusion, then fear. The walls of water were beginning to close in, slowly but surely. "Ah, _mierda_ …"

She started running, in time with Jack and his compatriots and the appearance of Barbossa perched on one of the _Black Pearl_ 's anchors. Maria heard her father howl Jack's name as the Spaniards began to bolt after. Maria lagged, watching the other side of the canyon as Lesaro and the rest of the men he'd brought caught up to her.

"Where is she?!" Maria barked to Lesaro as Salazar outstripped them all, making a running leap onto the _Pearl_ 's anchor with his target a good third of the way up the chain. He was free, why was he still intent on killing Jack?!

"There!" Lesaro reported as he looked back over his right shoulder. Mercifully, a second anchor appeared just above them, and Maria took a running leap with Lesaro to get onto it. The _Mary_ was moving just slow enough to trail the _Pearl_ , giving them time to lift as many sailors as they could to send up the chain.

"Lesaro, go!" Maria ordered once the last had been rescued. "Order all sails dropped, we need to catch the _Pearl_! My father is still hunting Jack!"

"He'll get himself killed, as before," Lesaro argued. "We should go, while we have the chance!"

"And he won't have that if we go!" Maria countered. "If we leave him he _will_ die, Lesaro! No chance to start over as the rest has! Now go up there and drop all canvas!"

"… _si, capitan_ ," Lesaro acceded with a sigh, but he began climbing up the anchor chain. Maria climbed after him, but perched halfway up, marking the progress of those climbing to the _Pearl_.

A chance was all she needed.

Maria was glad that her grip on the _Mary_ 's anchor chain was certain as the massive ship of the line began gaining speed above her; that, combined with the rock formations the heavy iron chain smashed through, would have been enough to shake anyone's hold. The continuous spray of seawater didn't help either, but her focus stayed locked on the _Pearl_ 's own chain, where her father continued his mad chase after Jack Sparrow. That was what she would, hopefully, end as soon as the _Mary_ caught up to the _Pearl_. The famed black Indiaman could only carry so much and maintain her vaunted speed, and although the _Mary_ 's size already put her at disadvantage she was weighed down with far less cargo than usual.

"Come on, come _on_ ," Maria prayed as she came closer, closer. So long as the ships didn't ram each other when the chasm closed…

It wasn't long before she was close enough to see each of the figures on the _Pearl_ 's chain: Sparrow, Henry, and the lass in the dress about two-thirds up the chain, Barbossa climbing slow but steadily around half, and Salazar gaining on him about twenty feet below. Maria gritted her teeth and climbed a little higher, trying to put herself even with her father.

"Papa!" Maria shouted over the rumbling of the closing gap in the ocean, leaning out carefully to extend her hand towards him. "Take my hand!"

She saw him pause to glance at her, but Salazar looked back up at Sparrow darkly before he continued his climb. Maria growled and tried to keep climbing herself, while the _Mary_ matched speed with the _Pearl_ and kept the chains effectively even despite the growing nearness. Maria managed to set herself on the _Mary_ 's chain and swung out again to extend her hand.

"It's not worth your life again, Papa!" Maria pleaded; Salazar looked over at her again, despite the light in his eyes all too like the demon he was now free of. "Take my hand! Please, Papa!"

The _Pearl_ 's chain jolted sharply as it smashed through a coral arch and began dropping at speed; something must have gone wrong with the capstan above. Maria swore and slid down her own chain, trying to stay even with Salazar before the other chain stopped with another jolt. Maria just heard an unfamiliar male voice - Henry, then - shout "Carina!" as the young woman that had been above him lost her hold on the chain and began to fall. Barbossa managed to catch her, true, but this put Carina into Salazar's reach. If he wanted Jack, at the top of the line, Salazar would have to climb over or rip away the three between him and the pirate.

" _Papa!_ " Maria shouted, trying to make him stop, to make him listen for just a moment. "Is it worth dying again to finish him?! To do this?!"

She reached out again, as far as she could, and this time she saw Salazar pause, looking at her. He was still in reach of Carina, and one hand was ready to reach out and grab her if he was so inclined. Maria clenched her jaw as she braced her heels on the chain, reaching as the _Mary_ and _Pearl_ drew closer. She thought she could hear the crews shouting back and forth above, trying to ensure both would survive the oncoming collision or perhaps even avoid it.

"Please, Papa!"

Maria saw Salazar glance back up and scowl, beginning to reach up again. Maria couldn't remain outstretched and fell back against the _Mary_ 's anchor chain, cursing as she watched. Was he truly so gone, that the plea on the letter inside his spyglass didn't mean anything to him anymore?

Maria was startled from preparing herself for grief as Carina looked down and returned Salazar's scowl. Instead of trying to resume her climb, Maria watched as the young woman kicked down into Salazar's face. Salazar howled in surprised agony, outstretched hand recoiling to cover his nose. Maria couldn't help a laugh, and when Carina looked up to her the younger woman smirked - almost as Barbossa had smirked.

"You want him?" Carina called over.

" _Si_ , I think I have more use for him than you do, _senorita_!" Maria affirmed.

"Then you can take him!"

Carina kicked again, and this time Maria spotted that she had chosen Salazar's hold on the _Pearl_ 's chain as her target. On instinct Maria swung back on the _Mary_ 's chain, and as she swung forward Carina kicked down once more. The second time, Salazar shouted again as he lost his grip, and Maria saw him beginning to fall, flailing for the chain.

Maria stretched towards him as she swung the _Mary_ 's chain out, hand outstretched and meeting her father's panicked gaze. For a moment, Maria knew she saw his fear - fear of dying again, of losing everything all over again - and she reached for him with all she could muster.

" _Te perdono, papa_ ," Maria insisted as her fingers slid against the sleeve of his coat. "I forgive you."

His hand closed around her wrist the same time hers tightened around his, and Maria bit back a scream as her shoulders wrenched from catching Salazar's weight. She tightened her hold on the _Mary_ 's chain before the weight lessened. Maria glanced down to find her father holding tight to the chain beneath her, blinking up at her in relief and still holding her tightly. Maria just managed to nod as the chain began to rise and the sea began closing around them. Maria tightened her holds and drew in a deep breath before they were submerged by the weight of the ocean.

She felt something collide with the back of her head, ramming her forehead into the chain. Everything went black.


	17. 17: Hands Outstretched (2)

Maria returned to consciousness with a throbbing head and blurry vision. Everything felt blank, just out of reach. She blinked, once, and her vision cleared to see scrubbed timbers flat over her head. There was no curve under her, just a bit of lift in the small of her back. A room, on a bed. Maria could dimly hear waves - a bed on a ship, in someone else's quarters. If only her head would stop hurting…

Maria grunted as she started sitting up - a spurt of pain from her left hand shot up her forearm - before she noticed movement from her right side. She would have turned more quickly but the throbbing worsened as she even turned a little bit.

"Ah, Maria, no, no, you have to lie down," Rafael's voice insisted next to her, though she heard him wincing as he gently started pushing her back down. "You hit your head pretty well, you are lucky to be alive…"

"What…what happened?" Maria mumbled as she slowly recognized more pain: across her shoulders, in her left hand, and her head all protested her movement. "Remember…anchor chain, Papa…"

"Don't know how you managed, but he came up with you - though you were half-drowned and unconscious," Rafael answered as he leaned over her. Maria managed to focus on his face, his features sharpening slowly. "You have to rest, Maria. _Por favor_ , just rest."

"Where is he?"

Rafael sighed, ducking his head and muttering under his breath before sitting back. Maria winced as she tried to turn to follow him, but managed despite her right shoulder twinging. As she did, Maria recognized her sick bed: the captain's cabin of the _Silent Mary_ , whole but missing most of its furnishings. The curse truly had been broken when Henry shattered the Trident.

"Luciano put him in the brig, and got backed up by Salazar's own men," Rafael told her. "Don't think he was expecting that, especially when I put us headed away from Sparrow and Barbossa. One of his sailors went down to check his injuries over, didn't get a word out of him."

Meaning he was either fuming or broken, Maria decided. She had to see him, but in her condition there was no chance she could safely get down to the brig - wherever it happened to be.

"And where are we headed?" she asked instead.

"I hope Shipwreck is all right," Rafael answered. "If any of the lords are there, they might be surprised to find an old ghost legend has been cleansed and turned to the Brethren's favor, _si_?"

Mama. She could tell her mama what had happened, both to Jozefo and Salazar. Maria nodded weakly before rolling onto her back again with a groan.

"…I want to see him," Maria mumbled as exhaustion swept over her again. "As soon as possible."

"I'll go bother the surgeon for you," Rafael offered with a faint chuckle. "Oh, we did manage to recover some salvage from the _Falcon_ , so…not everything was lost."

He leaned over her again, and Maria couldn't help a slight surprised breath as Rafael placed a crate in her lap, holding the boat she would have sent into the Triangle on her yearly pilgrimage when all this began. Maria wrapped her hands around the gently-carved wood hull, then turned her head to smile faintly at Rafael.

"Who touched it to get it in here?"

"No one! You've been out for a day and a half, and these Spaniards are very inventive. Must come from staving off boredom while dead."

Maria chuckled faintly but nestled down slowly. If Rafael was right, she probably still needed rest. But the first thing Maria wanted to do once she could get up from this bed was to see her papa.

Rafael left her be to nap, and a few hours later one of the _Mary_ 's original crew - a fellow named Santos, whom was friendly enough but Maria couldn't do more than chuckle at his terrible attempts at jokes - came in to check on her injuries. When Maria asked after her father, Santos sighed gently.

"More broken in spirit now, I think, than he was hurt in body," he eventually replied. "I do not think he expected us to turn against him, but he already cost us all our lives once - even his own! Why he thought chasing Sparrow after we were all freed was a good idea, I shall never understand."

"When might I see him?" Maria asked. "If…if he would want to see me."

"Another night of bed rest at least, _senorita capitan_ ," Santos insisted, though he grinned faintly at her when she pouted a little. "Ah, you are like him, never wants to stay still for long. At least the night, hm?"

Maria could only give it to dusk before she was trying to get to her feet and walking across the cabin. The warmth of the carved boards, the symbols under her soles, lent her some strength as Maria walked off as much of the dizziness and ache in her head as possible. Opening a window for the smell of the sea helped all the more, and after sunset Maria tied back her hair and collected the boat before daring to open the door out of the cabin.

Maria had to pause breathlessly as she took in the transformed view before her. Her previous time on the _Mary_ had been aboard a burned husk of a ship, kept floating by evil spirits knitted into her father's soul. But now, with the curse lifted, the _Silent Mary_ was whole and restored: her broad, massive galleries, like tower crenellations, filled in the broken and fallen sides Maria knew; the mainmast that had once trailed into the water stood tall and proud again, though her sails were still the same tattery gray Maria remembered. The fore towers held bright fires to help illuminate the deck and make the _Mary_ visible to passing vessels in the darkness, and more torches were set haphazardly along the galleries on either side of the ship. Some scars, Maria was sure, would remain, but the _Silent Mary_ was free of the darkness that had held her fast for so long.

Maria paced quietly along the quarterdeck, past the lashed wheel holding the ship's course true before descending to the main deck, then below to the first gun deck. Most of the crew were sleeping, many of them her father's sailors but the few survivors of her own crew were visible here and there. Maria padded along quietly, steadily crossing towards the bow, until she heard a low voice murmuring behind and below a planked wall near another ladder-stair to the second deck. Maria leaned carefully near the hatch to make out the murmuring better: a male voice, singing softly but…sadly. She couldn't make out the distinct words but Maria could feel the tone of loss and uncertainty.

Her papa was singing, and Maria thought her heart might break.

Maria carefully eased down the ladder and found, aside from the second deck and the passage to one of the stern chase decks, the brig. Maria shifted her crate and made sure to find the keys to the cells before venturing towards the cells, closer to the low sad song.

Salazar was seated in one of the cells closer to the chase deck, staring off into the sliver of sky visible from the barred wall as he murmured his song. His coat was cast aside and had limply folded along a wall to leave the medals - some a bit tarnished from years cursed and exposed to water - shining in the setting sun. As Maria shuffled closer, his song paused and Salazar's head tilted towards her, though his gaze did not leave the sunset.

"…I thought if anyone were to stand on this deck again," he murmured, "I thought it would be me. It… _should_ have been me."

"…you still can, Papa," Maria answered. "Please. You have another chance now. You're free."

Salazar snorted faintly, almost in disbelief, but his eyes at last moved to meet hers.

"Free? How am I free? I have…nothing, now. My ship, taken, my crew, mutinied…even my revenge -"

Maria nearly flinched back as Salazar paused to snarl - as if the demon still fed off his rage. But Salazar shuddered instead as the moment passed, resting a hand over his chest as his eyes closed in exhaustion.

"…too much to bear, _mija_ ," he sighed, closing his eyes briefly. Maria shook her head and carefully sat down near him, setting the crate and her boat aside.

"…you are free to be a better man, Papa," Maria answered after a few moments. "Free to set aside _el matador del mar_ \- as you promised Mama so long ago. Do you not want to see her again?"

"…she will have forgotten me, I am sure," Salazar murmured, eyes slitting open in distant sadness. "Your entire life, and she could have -"

"She never did," Maria interrupted him. Salazar's eyes opened a little wider at that, uncertain, even as Maria continued, "No other man has so much as charmed her since she lost you. I know, Papa. She has only ever had you, will only ever have you."

 _And no other man I will have for my father_ , Maria added to herself. She reached behind her for the boat and gently placed it against the bars for him to see. Salazar sat up when he did see it, then blinked up at her again.

"…I was going to send this on to you, if you hadn't been released from the Triangle," Maria said quietly. "As I have been since becoming a captain, myself. To honor you. Remember you."

" _Si_ , though you may have been the better to have had anything your mother told you…untouched," Salazar murmured. Maria couldn't help a rough chuckle at that.

"As if I could have grown up in a pirate town with your name and not heard the worse legends," she sighed. "Papa, I…I would rather take you as you are - yes, temperamental and occasionally vicious and hard - but that is because you are human. There is no fault in being human.

"Besides," Maria dared begin to add, "if it were not for Jack Sparrow, I might never have followed your steps to the sea."

As expected, Salazar scowled at the mention of Sparrow's name, arms folding over his chest.

"Sparrow," he spat. "And why is that, eh?"

Maria made sure to meet his gaze. Was it not clear to him, even now? Perhaps she had to be firmer. Sometimes men were just dense.

"…if you had been victorious, and come back for Mama and I…yes, I would have been your daughter. But I wouldn't have become _me_ ," Maria tried to explain. "The sea is in my blood, Papa. How could I have gone to sea as your child - and as a mixed-breed, Spanish and slave both? Spain might have ground me under her heel. If I had escaped it, I could never serve in the navy. What option does that leave me, Papa?"

"…piracy," Salazar sighed in defeat, but his gaze was still soft to her. "And perhaps I would not be so…so proud of you as I am. Just like your mother, unafraid of anything in your way."

He got to his feet slowly, crossing his cell to the bars where Maria had leaned herself before he sat again. Salazar gently reached his hand between the bars towards her, gaze soft and pleading before Maria knitted her fingers to his.

"…forgive me, _mija_ , he murmured. "Please. Forgive me."

"…I do, Papa," Maria sighed, leaning to press her cheek to the backs of his fingers. "Just promise me you will be better. I do not want to lose you again."

"Not if my crew no longer wants me as their captain," Salazar answered. "Perhaps I will…leave, once we reach harbor."

"Please, don't," Maria asked. "You know the _Silent Mary_ better than any of the crew. How am I to learn how to coax this massive beast to speed unless you are with me?"

" _La Maria Silenciosa_ is no beast," Salazar argued, but Maria chuckled before his eyes lit up and her father smiled. "Ah, look at you, already teasing me so. It seems you already know me better than I know you."

"Then I believe I can provide that chance, Papa," Maria offered as she presented the keys in her free hand. " _Por favor_. Stay with me after we dock."

"…the crew may not appreciate my…being free," Salazar replied, though Maria saw him watching the keys, weighing the offer with whatever practicality he assumed staying in a cell entailed.

"Papa, as _la capitan_ , I decide the fate of any prisoners," Maria retorted with a grin. "And I dislike keeping anyone in chains."

Maria managed to get to her feet, though her head began throbbing all over again as she slipped her hand from Salazar's. She managed to unlock the cell door before leaning heavily against the bars as the _Mary_ suddenly went out of focus.

"Perhaps I should have listened to Santos," she mumbled before her legs started giving out from under her. Instead of collapsing to the deck, Salazar had lunged for her, one arm snaring her about her waist before scooping under her knees with the other. Maria's vision cleared to find herself nestled into her father's chest, his dark eyes looking down at her in worry.

" _Yes, yes you should have,_ " he chided her softly in Spanish. Salazar leaned forward and softly kissed her forehead before he began to carry her up from the brig, back towards her cabin. " _You must rest, my girl, for me._ "

Maria managed a tired mumble of assent, and was resting deeply in Salazar's arms long before they reached the quarterdeck.


	18. Memory: Casting Off

**_A Memory - Shipwreck, age 17_**

"Mama, I have to go," Maria insisted, even as her mother's hands held tight around her upper arms. "Mama, _por favor_ , I cannot stay, you know I cannot…"

" _No, no, you have to stay, I will not lose you to this war_ ," Mama argued, gently shaking Maria as she looked up at her. Maria had the same amber-brown eyes of her mother, though they shone far brighter thanks to her larger eyes and the contrast with her skin. Maria also had a few inches on her, but sometimes Mama could still cow her - like she was trying to do now. " _I have already lost your papa to this same war, I will not lose you to the other side of it!_ "

" _Tio_ Jozefo will be there with me, he will keep me safe as he always has!"

" _This is not about Jozefo, this is about you, Maria! Do not go, you are all I have!_ "

"Is this what you told him before he left?" Maria snapped. "Did you cling to him and beg, too?"

That earned Maria being released from Mama's hold, though Mama's chin began to rise in defiance. If Maria dared to look closely she could see where Mama had once worn a slave's collar whenever she did that. Maria raised her hands to try and placate Mama before they could fight. As much support as Mama had tried to give her for her sailing life, Maria knew there was a limit to it.

"…Mama, if this war is not won by the Brethren, Shipwreck will be razed," Maria tried to persuade. "If you aren't killed outright, you will be in chains again, Mama. I cannot let that happen to you. Tell me Papa would not do the same for you!"

" _…he would not be fighting to defend this place_ ," Mama murmured. " _But for me…ah, every time you speak it is his voice I hear._ "

"Mama, you know that cannot be true," Maria teased with a smile. "It is only you I have learned such things from."

" _…just know you must not be foolish, please_ ," Mama sighed as she relaxed again, shaking her head. " _And come back to me. Do what he could not. Please?_ "

Maria opened her arms to embrace her mama tightly, rubbing her back. Mama hooked her chin over Maria's shoulder, shaking gently as she shed a few tears.

"I will come back, Mama," Maria breathed. "I promise. You will not lose me as he was lost."


	19. End: Home Port

It took days before Maria was well enough to be seen on the deck of the _Silent Mary_ , but Salazar did what he could to keep his impulsive girl from moving before she was well. It still amused him to see how much of him she had somehow learned - perhaps from whatever stories Rebeca had told her, or pirates that tried to make her ashamed of who she was. He knew many of them - almost all were unpleasant - but Salazar did his best to live up to what, he was certain, Maria was expecting of him.

It was not always easy. Maria's pirates and his own crew often watched him with suspicion once his freedom was found out. The pirates' unease, Salazar was not surprised. But the cool responses he received from his former crew made Salazar uncomfortable. It reminded him that the monster he had been was one that had dominated his men and ship without compromise. Lesaro was the only one who would carry on a conversation with him, and only then during the meetings conducted in Maria's cabin with her own first mate and helmsman. Clearly Maria was the only one willing to trust him on faith alone.

Something Rebeca must have taught her.

Nevertheless, Salazar recognized that he was no longer captain of his ship - meaning he worked with the rest. The effort was exhilarating, after decades dead and bound by the Triangle's unnatural power, and often Salazar busied himself with chores to remind him of his mortality and to cherish every bead of sweat that rolled down his face. Proper sailing, _real_ sailing, anchored him from thinking back into those decades in the dark. And when he collapsed in a hammock down in the holds for the night, and nightmares of that time came for him (they always did), Salazar would wake and think of Maria, to banish that cold feeling of death snaring him again.

He was determined not to lose himself as he nearly had.

His first true test was when, the day after Santos finally released Maria from her cabin, the _Silent Mary_ reached her destination: a pirate-ruled island called Shipwreck. Salazar found himself uneasily standing on the foredeck as the _Mary_ carefully coasted around the rocky island, apparently avoiding vicious reefs that could tear the _Mary_ open again, and this time for good. Salazar had tried to make himself presentable without managing to somehow anger the pirates of the settlement, to the point of recovering his coat from the brig and attempting to beat the worst of the burns out, followed by polishing his medals. Trimming his hair was out of the question, but he did manage to shave.

"Papa, at least try not to look at anyone for too long, hm?" Maria's voice suddenly teased from behind him. "And we will need to improve your wardrobe. We do not sail for the Spanish navy anymore, remember."

"Ah, at least allow me this, _mija_ ," he chuckled faintly as Salazar turned to find Maria behind him, her hair tied back by a red kerchief again and fully appareled as the lady captain. "Too many old habits are coming back to me."

"So long as the bad ones stay away," Maria soothed as she walked to stand beside him. "We'll be in the cove proper soon, and then come to dock. At least some of what we could salvage from the _Falcon_ can be sold."

Salazar heard the tightness in her voice and gently rested his arm around her shoulder. It was clear that the _Mary_ would be no substitute for Maria's little brig, and compounded with her uncle's death - Rebeca's brother - such thoughts left her downcast.

"He died so you might live, _mija_ ," Salazar tried to comfort her. "He gave you a chance - one you used to…to save me. To remind me of who I truly am. That is worth such a price."

Maria did not reply, but the slow nestle into Salazar's chest indicated she at least heard him. Salazar simply kissed the top of her head and kept watch with her. It did surprise him as they came upon a cave entrance large enough for the _Mary_ \- and even larger ships, perhaps - to pass through. He looked up and stared to find causeways up along the top edge of the cave mouth, pirates dotted along them on watch.

"Who comes?" a voice shouted down from up above.

"Maria Salazar, last captain of the _Falcon_ ," Maria called back, "now master of the _Silent Mary_!"

Salazar tensed as her name and the name of the ship echoed into the cavern ahead. As likely as it could have been, there was no cannonade, no traps that impeded their passing; the _Silent Mary_ continued on her way, sailing into the cavern beyond.

"…is that normal, to simply let ships come and go?" Salazar dared to ask once they had passed the watchmen. Maria chuckled against him softly.

"Our gun ports weren't open, and no one was about to attack - not to mention they know all the captains that sail from Shipwreck," Maria explained. "If they didn't recognize my colors, the _Mary_ could have been sunk all too easily."

"Then asking who comes was…a formality?"

"Exactly, Papa. Best to know who comes and goes than not care. Trouble spreads; and even pirate towns can only take so much."

Salazar would have questioned further, but the cavern surrounding them began to open into a massive cove - a literal fortress wall of stone. Dozens, no, _hundreds_ of ships were moored on the water: frigates and men-of-war anchored on the outskirts, while smaller ships of all manner of origin and size closed in on a towering edifice of ruined ships stacked and layered into a complete _city_. Salazar couldn't help staring in some measure of - dare he say it - respect and awe at the sight. Just looking at it all made it plain to him that, no matter how many ships such as the _Mary_ sailed to hunt down pirates and their dens, places like this could endure even their onslaught. This place was built to endure all assault.

"…welcome to Shipwreck, Papa," Maria chuckled as Salazar heard the order for the anchors to be dropped. "Home."

"…is it?" Salazar asked. "Your mama is…here?"

Maria nodded and took his hand. Turning back, Salazar saw the crew starting to lower longboats, the pirates laughing and cheering while his own men were impressed and shocked as well. A few were even questioning Maria's crew about the city - perhaps already making plans of enjoying their first night ashore in many, many years. Salazar let Maria tug him along to board one of them, and fell into quiet thought as the boats cast off for Shipwreck proper. Rebeca had settled here, out of anywhere she could have gone with her freedom granted to her? Had raised their child…here?

 _Men are men, Armando, pirates or not_ , she had chided him once, when they had taken one of their many beach walks so very long ago. _You keep forgetting this. Just as a slave is a man bound in chains and forced to serve others, a pirate is a man who chooses a darker path to sail on the seas - and they have their reasons for it. Just as you have reasons to sail with the navy!_

Perhaps forgetting that was why he and the _Mary_ had been cursed by the Triangle, instead of dying in peace.

Salazar could hear raucous shouts, fractured bars of tavern songs, and all the other bustling that came from city life as the longboats reached an open dock. Maria sprang out from behind him to head off the approaching dockmaster; Salazar took his time to make sure he was steady on the pier and overseeing the rest of the crew disembarking. By the time that was done, Maria had finished with the dockmaster and turned back to her crew with a smile.

"All right, off with you! Three days left to you; if you'd rather not keep sailing with me, then don't come back," Maria informed them. "The _Mary_ will be getting refits started after that time, and she'll need all willing hands to make her ready to well and truly sail again. _Vamos_ , go already!"

The pirates whooped and pushed their way forward into the warrens of the city, followed with a more restrained exuberance by the Spanish sailors. Salazar found himself alone on the dock, save for Maria. Instead of heading off, she came back to his side and took hold of his hand again.

"Let me take you to see Mama," she suggested. "I will make sure not to bring you too close anywhere you might get in trouble."

"Trouble? Me? _Mija_ , you still doubt I can be polite and pleasant when I choose to be?"

"No; it is others I am worried about," Maria replied with a faint smile. Salazar couldn't help a faint chuckle before they began their walk.

Yes, Shipwreck was a pirate town; there was little civility, and more taverns and brothels than Salazar could count as Maria led him away from the docks. He tensed more than once when a tavern brawl grew out of hand, spilling into the street and pistols drawn. Yet Maria was quick on her feet, pulling him out of the way before they were caught in the midst of the fighting. Salazar could only guess at how many more establishments of such reputation were in Shipwreck; part of him cringed in anger to think Maria had been exposed to any of this as a child.

They began to ascend, higher up into Shipwreck and away from the docks. Away from the rough sailors, surprisingly, Shipwreck almost seemed…normal. There were markets and bickering over goods, houses and shops, even some tiny school rooms. With the remarkable architecture, Salazar realized, it was easy to become used to living on a ship, learning to sail even before reaching the sea. Of course it was not entirely perfect; there were still pubs full of drunken pirates, and children would bolt out from their lessons like howling monkeys to pester the patrons - or perhaps pick pockets along the way.

Despite all of it, Salazar's hand stayed firmly in Maria's grip. She navigated each planked street and walkway with practiced ease, sometimes recognizing someone and calling out to them in greeting. She seemed so at ease, even after everything that had occurred over the past few weeks since Jack Sparrow had given away the compass and freed the _Silent Mary_. Of course, everything had changed: Salazar lived again, as did Sparrow, yes, but here he was, being led through a pirate town by his adult daughter, a child he had never realized existed until he had nearly killed her and ruined her vessel.

He did not want to think about what would have occurred had she not appeared in his life.

"Here we are," Maria declared as they reached a higher tier of Shipwreck, clearly intended to be strictly for housing and board for crews on shore leave. There were fewer drunkards to be seen, at least, and Salazar released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "We're just below the King's Eyrie - a few levels below, anyway. That's how much respect Mama's managed to wring out of the Brethren Court and a lot of other captains since she's been here."

"How so?" Salazar asked, still following after her and his hand still in her grasp. Maria chuckled softly as they reached a gilt-trimmed green door, with flower boxes hung at the windows. It took Salazar a few moments to lean back and read the sign displayed over the entry: _Rebeca da Domenica - Accountancy & Valuation_. "…she keeps accounts still? For pirates?"

"Not just any pirates," Maria replied. "Some of the pirate lords keep accounts with Mama. There's quite a few that are more frugal than others but are terrible at determining just what sort of wealth they are sitting on. Come on!"

She released his hand and pushed open the door, calling out to anyone inside. Salazar found himself lingering on the threshold, looking at the opened door and uncertain. Rebeca undoubtedly had thought him dead for so long; ever since she could have forgotten him, found another man - or other men, which he shuddered at uncomfortably - and only told Maria enough of her father to counter whatever other tales she had devoured. Would he even recognize her if he entered? Maria had seemed certain her mother would be pleased to see him alive and well; Salazar was not so certain.

Nevertheless, Salazar stepped towards the door, cautiously stepping inside. The front room was neat and tidy, bookshelves framing up the walls and a desk to one side. Ledgers were stacked in groups of binding color, marked with names -captains' accounts, Salazar could guess - and a carefully-arranged writing station was spread on the desk. So much of this place reminded him of a tiny closet, also filled with books like these, with only just enough light for the young woman within it to tally numbers and dare to teach herself letters to read what she was counting. Salazar dimly heard voices in the back - another door stood open on the far wall - one speaking English and the other Spanish. As curious as Salazar was beginning to feel, he held himself back from approaching the second door.

" _I've a surprise for you, Mama, before I tell you anything of my last voyage_ ," he heard Maria say, switching into Spanish. Salazar froze as he heard Maria's boots on the floor, followed by softer steps, almost inaudible. She stepped through the inner door to give him a smile, raising a finger over her lips; Salazar was certain he couldn't have said a word even at Maria's insistence to the contrary.

" _My girl, anything you bring for me is a -_ "

Salazar's breath caught in his chest when he saw _her_. Despite all these years, he knew her dark skin and golden eyes, the tight curls of her hair that were carefully braided and plaited down her back. Rebeca had matured from the wise young woman with an angelic voice to a lady in her prime, straight-backed and proud and accomplished - and still as incredibly beautiful as Salazar had ever entertained her to be. He remembered to exhale as Rebeca's eyes widened, one hand rising to cover her mouth in shock and the other reaching out for Maria to stability.

"…Armando?" Rebeca finally breathed, the hand over her mouth dropping to her chest. " _Can…can it truly be…_ "

He dared a step towards her, heart pounding fiercely in his ears as he approached. Salazar hesitated to catch Rebeca's hand, but even as he reached out to her Rebeca caught his fingers tightly.

" _...I have endured purgatory and hell to come back to you,_ " Salazar murmured as his free hand stroked over Rebeca's hair, the tips of his fingers quivering. This was real. _She was real_. Rebeca's free hand rose from her collar to stroke his cheek, press over his jaw. "You have only become more beautiful while I've been away."

" _And you have hardly aged a day_ ," Rebeca breathed. " _It…it is you? After so many years, after…._ "

Salazar gently moved from stroking Rebeca's hair to gently holding her around her waist, to pull her close with all the tenderness he could summon. As Rebeca leaned into him, he began to hum the tune he had heard her sing all those years ago - the song that had brought them together in the first place. He kept one hand around one of hers before Salazar began to gently rock her from side to side, his hum rising into soft arcing sounds. It wasn't long before he heard Rebeca's voice - as soft and warm as he had often heard echoing in his mind in the Triangle - rise in tune with him.

The hand Rebeca had pressed to Salazar's cheek slid around to the back of his neck, and Rebeca looked up at him to smile - despite tears in her eyes. Salazar paused singing to gently wipe her tears away.

" _This…this is a dream I thought could never be,_ " Rebeca admitted as he did so. " _But it has come true. You have come back to me._ "

" _And I will not leave my family again_ ," Salazar sighed before he ducked to kiss Rebeca, warmth and light coursing through him as Rebeca returned the kiss, her warm lips exactly as he remembered. This was worth waiting for - worth the madness and rage and death.

A tight pressure encircled Salazar from one side, and he had to break his kissing of Rebeca to find Maria pressed against them, arms around them both. Salazar couldn't help a smile even as Rebeca laughed gently and turned to kiss Maria's head.

"I have not forgotten you, _mija_ ," Salazar noted as he let go of Rebeca's hand to return Maria's embrace. "I never could."

Perhaps a pirate's life would not be so damned after all.


End file.
